What's in a label?

As fair trade moves towards the mainstream, with more products appearing in the major supermarkets, and more companies making fair trade claims, how can we judge which products actually benefit communities overseas?

One possible answer might be better labeling, like the Soil Association logo, which is a recognised symbol of an organic product.

The Fairtrade Foundation is trying to do just this. It was set up by development agencies like Oxfam and Christian Aid to tackle the exploitation of producers in the third world and spread fairly traded products into mainstream retailing. It checks that the companies who buy from producers in poor countries give the producers fair wages, decent working conditions, health and safety standards, the security of long term contracts and a fair price a fair deal all round. Companies that meet these criteria can put the Fairtrade Mark on their products.

The big benefit of the Fairtrade Mark to consumers is that its a guarantee and its easily recognisable - as long as you shop in Britain. Shop elsewhere in the world and you have to look out for a different logo.

Products like Cafedirect & Teadirect feature the Fairtrade Mark, but not Traidcraft or Oxfam's products. Why?

Peter Reynolds from Traidcraft Exchange explains that Traidcraft helped found the Fairtrade Foundation and is also part of the consortium that brings the public the well-known fairly traded brand Cafedirect. But it doesn't need the Fairtrade Mark on its products because its main customer base is made up of people who are already aware of fair trade and it has its own monitoring system. He says, "The Fairtrade Mark is for products in mainstream retailing and its a guarantee that the producers receive a fair deal. Our name is our guarantor. If people don't associate Traidcraft with fair trade we might as well pack up now". So you can be sure its fairly traded if it bears the Fairtrade Mark or its from a well-established fair trade organisation that you've heard of.

Of course there are organisations that have seen the benefit of fair trade as a marketing opportunity. Percol's Fair Trade Nicaragua coffee has attractive packaging, a great taste and of course a Fairtrade Mark on it. But looking more closely you realise Percol is part of the Food Brands Group, a marketing house committed to taking the product all the way from the production line to the shopper's basket with an expert marketing spin. They have seen the benefit of fair trade in the marketing spin.

Percol is only a brand name. It doesn't have a direct relationship with the producers. The coffee comes from a roaster and grinder in Denmark who buys from fair trade sources registered with the Fairtrade Foundation.

Percol also works with an American charity called Coffee Kids. The deal is that if you buy Percol Coffee Kids instant coffee, a small amount of money goes to the charity to improve the quality of life for children and families who live where coffee is grown. The jar has a picture of a wistful little girl's face on it, with a 25p or 10p or 5p sign just above her right ear. But no Fairtrade Mark. There's no doubt the money goes to a good cause and it's impressive cause-related marketing. But it doesn't boost sales of fairly traded products.

There are other new companies who've seen the opportunities too. Often they benefit because they're not tied down by the large organisations and development backgrounds of the traditional fair traders.

Take the new chocolate bar, Divine, from the Day Chocolate Company. It tastes good and it's good for the growers in Ghana who own part of the company so they are guaranteed a fair deal. "Alternative trade is about doing trade well and bringing producers and consumers together", says project director Pauline Tiffin. Divine is a mainstream product that's priced and packaged to compete with its multinational rivals and owned by producers in poorer countries.

The fair trade market is also full of smaller organisations, many of whom have excellent credentials. Tropical Wholefoods live and breathe fair trade - a family business that works in partnership with African farmers and food processors developing small scale production of dried organic foods. They use wooden solar dryers made of locally available materials to dry fruit and vegetables, which would otherwise go to waste.

But where's their fair trade guarantee? They don't have one because to date the Fairtrade Foundation only labels five products tea, coffee, chocolate, cocoa and honey. Orange juice is in the pipeline. There's no label for dried fruits yet because it takes the Fairtrade Foundation time and resources to do the necessary research for each product.

Even if there was a dried fruits label, Tropical Wholefoods directors Kate Sebag and Adam Brett say they would think twice about applying for it because it's too expensive. Like all the other companies registered with the Fairtrade Foundation they would have to pay a licence fee of 2% of their turnover at wholesale price. According to Kate Sebag, that's a huge whack for a small company, especially one which pays producers cash up front and then has to wait until it's filled a container, got it back to Britain, packed the produce, sold it and been paid.

"Our priority is to go for organic certification, which incorporates the notion of fair trade and is better in pure marketing terms".

The situation is even more open when you look at crafts.

One Village is run by Roy Scott. Again no Fairtrade Mark - it doesn't apply to craft products. Instead he's a member of the British Association for Fair Trade Shops (BAFTS), which vets suppliers before they go on an approved list.

He believes in working with producers in co-operatives or workers' associations and adding a community surcharge onto the price of some of his products, where viable. The money raised goes back to the community. He's worried that the expression fair trade is open to abuse. "What is meant by fair trade? It's an easy phrase to trip off the tongue. In my judgment this sort of trade can't be fair because the world is so grossly unfair. So you are never going to get fairness. You do the best you can to make it as reasonable as it can be."

The fact is that fair trade is such a touchy feely concept that it will never be possible to reliably certify all the products you can buy. The Fairtrade Mark may extend to a few more mainstream commodities, but for the handcrafted products that come from isolated communities, you're going to have to rely on the trust and reputation of the companies who sell them.