5. FAIR TRADE
According to Global Business Insights, the combined
total of the European and North American fair trade markets is $2.6 billion and the overall market is growing fast
with a compound average annual growth rate (CAGR) of
38 percent between 2001 and 2006. Research from Mintel
supports these findings as well. In this past year alone, they
forecasted 57 percent growth of fair trade beverages and a
150 percent increase in fair trade food introductions.
One of the biggest launches this year was Ben and
Jerry’s fair trade vanilla and chocolate ice creams, but many
other companies are leading this charge as well. Simply
Organic introduced four new baking mixes including chai
scones, cocoa biscotti, carrot cake and banana bread, all of
which feature organic, fair
trade ingredients such as sugar,
vanilla and chocolate. Their sister company, Frontier Co-op,
has been making organic, fair
trade teas for a while, but they
wanted to go beyond just tea.
“There is a general excitement in being able to incorporate these ingredients in more
products, and finding another
way to include fair trade in
everyday life,” said Steve
Simply Organic has four baking
Krusie, marketing director. mixes made with fair trade certi-
“And it’s not just about doing fied ingredients.
it for the sake of it. These are quality ingredients. Sales
have been greater than what we expected and we are staying focused on keeping up with demand.”
Other organic products featuring fair trade certified
ingredients include a new coffee-soda drink called Java
Pop, Larabar’s Jocolat bars, Nuvita’s chocolate hempshake,
Stonyfield Farm’s chai vanilla frozen yogurt and Blackwell’s
chocolate gelato…to name just a few.
Currently, the selection of fair trade organic ingredients
available to processors includes cocoa, bananas, rice, sugar,
vanilla, coffee, tea (including chai flavor blends) as well as
vanilla, coffee and chocolate flavored extracts. This list is
likely to expand soon as
RESEARCH RESOURCES TransFair, the U.S. fair
www.hartman-group.com trade authority, explores
www.datamonitor.com certifying other commodi-
www.ific.org
ties such as spices. Guide-
www.globalbusinessinsights.com lines for use of the Trans-
www.mintel.com Fair seal vary depending on
www.nmisoulutions.com your product formulation.
www.nutritionbusiness.com A trendlet within fair
www.packagedfacts.com
(continued on page 56)
conventional farmers start using GMO seed, there is an
increasing chance of organic fields getting contaminated,”
said Ken Roseboro, editor of The Organic & Non-GMO
Report. “It’s becoming a real threat and the organic industry really needs to protect its integrity.” To ensure products
are GMO-free, many ingredient manufacturers including
Northland Organic, SK Food, Briess, Cargill and others
have already created their own programs to protect the
organic/non-GMO identity of their products.
The latest step in this movement is the creation of The
Non-GMO Project, a non-profit group supported by Whole
Foods, Organic Valley, United Natural Foods, Good Earth,
Nature’s Path, Lundberg Farms, Eden and many others.
This group is aimed at educating the organic and natural
industries on GMOs and creating a standard and verification process to help protect our GMO-free integrity. The
standard, developed by over 40 industry leaders, is set to be
released at Natural Products Expo West in March of this
year. Manufacturers are encouraged to get involved by submitting product information at www.nongmoproject.org.
“BETTER FOR THE WORLD” INGREDIENTS
We may not all be able to join the Peace Corps or
Greenpeace but, as consumers, many of us feel that we can
make a difference with our dollar.
In “Sustainability: Understanding the Consumer
Perspective,” The Hartman Group reported that 93 percent
of Americans have some sort of sustainability consciousness,
and out of that 75 percent think their purchases have an
impact on society.
And this belief is making it all the way to the check out
lane. In “The Future of Ethical Food and Drinks,” Global
Business Insights reported that over 25 percent of U.S. consumers bought more socially responsible groceries in 2006
than the year before, and this trend is expected to have
grown even more in the last year.
Within the trend of ethical, feel-good products, organic
is already a key player but organic processors have a huge
opportunity to take their authenticity to the next level by
supporting other socially responsible initiatives in their
product development.
The Hartman Group
Datamonitor
International Food Information Council
Global Business Insights
Mintel Group
Natural Marketing Institute
Nutrition Business Journal
Packaged Facts
425-452-0818
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