Ben & Jerry's Goes Fair Trade

by Katherine Gustafson · 2010-02-22 09:45:00 UTC
Topics:

When Ben & Jerry's was acquired by the Unilever corporation a decade ago, many feared that the move would spell the demise of the company's famous socially responsible ethic. But as Tim Newman on Change.org's End Human Trafficking blog reports, such pessimism was unwarranted; Ben & Jerry's has just announced that it is going entirely fair trade.

The company has made a "commitment to go fully Fair Trade across its entire global flavor portfolio" by 2013, according to a press release. This means using Fair Trade Certified ingredients in all of its flavors in all markets, which will require rethinking the way up to 121 flavors are put together. To do so, Ben & Jerry's will collaborate with fair trade cooperatives representing more than 27,000 farmers.

Support for such equitable policies and practices is key to building a sustainable food system that benefits everyone. As Newman writes, "Fair Trade is a major step in the right direction to ensuring that farmers get a fair price for their products, worker rights are protected, and farming communities receive important benefits."

Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield knows that better than most, considering that his company was the first ice cream business ever to use Fair Trade Certified ingredients, beginning in 2005.

"Fair Trade is about making sure people get their fair share of the pie," he said. "The whole concept of Fair Trade goes to the heart of our values and sense of right and wrong. Nobody wants to buy something that was made by exploiting somebody else.”

Photo: Wyscan on Flickr

Katherine Gustafson is a freelance writer and editor with a background in international nonprofit organizations.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Neuroscientists Engineer Animals Insensitive to Pain
NEXT STORY:
Join the Social Media Day of Action to Rid Girl Scout Cookies of Forest-Destroying Palm Oil

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.