Product Certification

Multiple Ingredients Product Policy

Fair Trade USA’s Ingredients Policy seeks to provide Fair Trade benefits to more farmers by enabling more companies to use Fair Trade Certified™ ingredients, and to increase transparency through a policy with clear requirements and differentiated product labeling.

Our objective is to expand the market for Fair Trade farmers and farm workers—impacting the long-term stability of their communities and the quality of their lives for generations to come.

Requirements Explanation

Full Label

The product contains 100% Fair Trade Certified content.

Most frequently, this label will appear on single ingredient products (coffee, tea, bananas) and a few very high multi-ingredient products like dark chocolate that only contain cocoa and sugar.

The product may contain up to 5% food additives, processing agents, coloring & flavorings that are not Fair Trade certified.

Ingredient Label

100% of the ingredient commonly associated with a product is Fair Trade Certified.

For example, a chocolate bar labeled with the ingredient label contains 100% Fair Trade Certified cocoa.

For any individual Fair Trade Certified ingredient used in the product, 100% of that particular ingredient is Fair Trade Certified.

For example, if a product contains Fair Trade Certified vanilla extract, all of the vanilla extract in the product must be Fair Trade Certified

The product contains 20% or more Fair Trade Certified content.

Measurement: The ingredient make up for multi-ingredient products will be measured by dry weight, meaning without added water or dairy.

The product contains as many Fair Trade Certified ingredients as are commercially available.

Fair Trade USA follows the definition used by organic certification: availability, quality, and functionality.

All Fair Trade Certified ingredients are identified in the ingredients panel, on the back of the pack.

 
Back Panel Description

No Label

Products with <20% Fair Trade content can note on the  back label of the package "Fair Trade Certified™ (name of ingredient)" as part of the ingredients statement.

Products can have additional explanation of the Fair Trade ingredient on the back or side of package, on their website, and CSR reporting

Featured Producer

Jurihe Zhaluteqi Nature Village Farmer Association
The Jurihe Zhaluteqi Nature Village Farmer Association is located near Tong Liao City in Inner Mongolia. The province is the third largest subdivision of China and one of China's poorest rural areas. The region has a temperate continental...

How Fair Trade Has Made a Difference

Education: Resources are scarce in the TieBei village, where the main office is located. Families in Jurihe want to improve their local education system because most children are unable to read and write. Schools are weak and outdated, and located far from where farmers live –some children walk over an hour to reach the closest schoolhouse. In the winter, temperatures can drop to -20 degrees. Given the harsh weather and inadequate facilities, many children do not attend school. Portions of the cooperative’s Fair Trade premium will be used to improve their community's educational structures and support local families by providing supplies and services that promote a better learning environment. The cooperative will purchase and donate heaters, warm clothes and basic school materials as a start.

Read More
Multiple Ingredients Product Policy
  • Fair Trade USA’s Multiple Ingredients Product Policy seeks to:  
    • Provide Fair Trade benefits to more farmers by enabling more companies to use Fair Trade Certified™ ingredients  
    • Increase transparency through a policy with clear requirements and differentiated product labeling  
  • Multiple ingredient products use many ingredients for which today there are neither rigorous standards nor certification processes (wheat, dairy, eggs, etc).  
  • Farmers selling crops that could be certified – like vanilla, cocoa, sugar and spices – want to be part of Fair Trade, but these ingredients are typically used in multiple ingredient products at lower percentages. 
    • For example, ice cream that contains both cocoa and sugar may have only 20% Fair Trade ingredients; cookies containing sugar, chocolate chips and vanilla might have only 30% Fair Trade ingredients. 
  • Our policy will allow farmers to sell as much of their crops as possible as Fair Trade while balancing a consumer’s right to know what is in a Fair Trade certified product.
Commercially Available Ingredients

Whether an ingredient is commercially available is determined through the following steps:

  • A licensed partner will search the Fair Trade USA online ingredients database in order to find available Fair Trade certified ingredients. (Note: This is a work in progress and not a complete list of presently available ingredients. The list will become more complete over time.)
  • Where the search is not successful, Fair Trade USA will work with licensed partners to exhaust all possible vendors to find the ingredients needed.
  • Licensed partners sample the available ingredients and test for quality and functionality.
  • If the ingredient still cannot be found (availability), or does not match the product quality specifications (quality, functionality), exemptions are logged per product. This information is shared with registered ingredient partners to demonstrate unmet need. This process helps speed up the availability of new ingredients, formulations, options and brings more benefit to farmers, faster.