Comments on: Whole Foods to do more fair trade http://greenlagirl.com/2007/03/02/whole-foods-to-do-more-fair-trade/ Urban environmental lifestyle blog in Los Angeles Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:30:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Siel http://greenlagirl.com/2007/03/02/whole-foods-to-do-more-fair-trade/#comment-292498 Siel Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:07:12 +0000 http://greenlagirl.com/2007/03/02/whole-foods-to-do-more-fair-trade/#comment-292498 Gina -- EVERY certification charges a fee, including organic. There's no way to run a program without it. And TFUSA is a registered nonprofit, whose financial records you can peruse online. I'm not saying that TFUSA is perfect, but you really need some actual proof for the claims you're making. Simply badmouthing them saying they're money grubbers -- without any substantiation -- just makes you look silly. Gina — EVERY certification charges a fee, including organic. There’s no way to run a program without it. And TFUSA is a registered nonprofit, whose financial records you can peruse online.

I’m not saying that TFUSA is perfect, but you really need some actual proof for the claims you’re making. Simply badmouthing them saying they’re money grubbers — without any substantiation — just makes you look silly.

]]> By: Gina http://greenlagirl.com/2007/03/02/whole-foods-to-do-more-fair-trade/#comment-292353 Gina Wed, 04 Jun 2008 04:07:41 +0000 http://greenlagirl.com/2007/03/02/whole-foods-to-do-more-fair-trade/#comment-292353 Do some more digging and you'll find Trans Fair is really a giant profit making hoax. The products it "certifies" are already Fair Trade products, meeting the strict guidelines of the European Fair Trade organization. Trans Fair merely requires a fee (per item sold) for the right to use their Fair Trade Certified in the US logo (which Whole Food adheres to) making it quite a powerful, profit making entity. If Trans Fair is needed to watch over Fairtrade, who's watching over Trans Fair. And by charging Fairtrade impports on a per item sold basis (vs. a flat fee), the imports that can sell the most, are being pushed because of their money making potential for Trans Fair. Read between the lines on their website...trans fair is a joke..feeding off of people who think they are really helping out starving farmers in Africa and Brazil when in reality, the board of Trans Fair got Whole Foods to agree to use its certification label, so those that want in the US market, must pay the piper Trans Fair to play in this market. Ironically, the fee that Trans Fair charges per item is substantially higher than the farmers are paid for their product. Guilt is a powerful tool in organics/fair trade marketing and Trans Fair is set to make a mint. Do some more digging and you’ll find Trans Fair is really a giant profit making hoax. The products it “certifies” are already Fair Trade products, meeting the strict guidelines of the European Fair Trade organization. Trans Fair merely requires a fee (per item sold) for the right to use their Fair Trade Certified in the US logo (which Whole Food adheres to) making it quite a powerful, profit making entity. If Trans Fair is needed to watch over Fairtrade, who’s watching over Trans Fair. And by charging Fairtrade impports on a per item sold basis (vs. a flat fee), the imports that can sell the most, are being pushed because of their money making potential for Trans Fair. Read between the lines on their website…trans fair is a joke..feeding off of people who think they are really helping out starving farmers in Africa and Brazil when in reality, the board of Trans Fair got Whole Foods to agree to use its certification label, so those that want in the US market, must pay the piper Trans Fair to play in this market. Ironically, the fee that Trans Fair charges per item is substantially higher than the farmers are paid for their product. Guilt is a powerful tool in organics/fair trade marketing and Trans Fair is set to make a mint.

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