Ethical Consumer World

Sampling of Fairtrade foods will take place on Stand G46 at Ethical Consumer World 2003, Wembley Arena, 11-13 April 2003. Staff and volunteers will be on the stand to answer questions and provide information on Fairtrade foods and the work of the Fairtrade Foundation.

Some 4,500 events just took place around the UK in support of Fairtrade as part of the annual campaign of the Fairtrade Foundation which ran 3-16 March 2003. This year’s theme was Trust Your Taste, aimed to show shoppers that Fairtrade products do not just guarantee a better deal for Third World Producers – they taste great too. Events ranged from conferences to Shrove Tuesday Pancake Races.

Fairtrade Fortnight was also an opportunity for people to celebrate the staggering rise in Fairtrade sales. Sales of Fairtrade foods have more than doubled over the past three years and Fairtrade brands now account for 14 % of the total UK roast and ground coffee market. The British public are drinking 1.7 million cups of Fairtrade tea, coffee and cocoa each day and eating 1.5 million Fairtrade bananas a week.

Over 130 retail products now carry the FAIRTRADE Mark – including coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate, snacks and biscuits, sugar, honey, fruit juice and fresh fruit.

"Rising sales figures show that the public not only trust the FAIRTRADE Mark but trust their taste too," says Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation. "Producers of Fairtrade foods want us shoppers to know they are proud of their produce – and increasingly people are finding out just how delicious the foods are."

For more information contact The Fairtrade Foundation on 020 7405 5942 or 07770 957 451 – or see www.fairtrade.org.uk Ian Bretman, Deputy Director, who will be running the seminar Introduction to Fairtrade 11.30am Saturday, can be contacted on 07905 213908

• The FAIRTRADE Mark is the only independent certification and monitoring authority which guarantees producers in the developing world are receiving a decent price for their produce.
• Fairtrade is a trading partnership that seeks greater equity in international trade by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalised farmers and workers in the developing world. Regular inspection and audit ensures that producers meet the Fairtrade standards of a democratic and participative structure where the Fairtrade premiums are used to improve living conditions or the business infrastructure.
• Fairtrade products have won a number of awards for quality. These include: a Q award at the Quality Food & Drink Awards 2002 for Sainsbury’s own-label Fairtrade Tea; Best Organic Coffee at the Soil Association Organic Food Awards 2002 for Percol Guatemala Fairtrade Ground Coffee; and in the first Bolivian coffee cupping competition, three of the ten finalists were Fairtrade registered producer groups.

The following retail products carry the FAIRTRADE Mark:

• Cafédirect 5065, Organic Decaffeinated Freeze Dried and Fresh Ground Coffees
• Co-op Own Brand Fair Trade Coffee, Fair Trade Instant Coffee Granules, Chocolate bars, and Chocolate Cake
• Clipper Fairtrade Teas
• The Day Chocolate Company’s Divine Milk Chocolate, Darkly Divine & Dubble bar
• Equal Exchange (Organic Coffees, Cocoa, Teas, Chocolate Brazil nuts, Honey, and Sugar)
• Fairtrade Bananas (Safeways, Asda, Sainsbury’s, the Co-op, Tesco, Morrisons, Budgens)
• Fruit Passion Orange, Breakfast and Tropical Juice
• Green & Black's Maya Gold Chocolate and Cocoa
• AgroFair Fairtrade Bananas, Mangoes and Pineapples
• Hampstead Tea & Coffee Company Teas
• Johnsons Costa Rica blend Coffee
• Morrison’s Own Brand Fairtrade Tea
• Oxfam Organic Cocoa and Fair Trade Chocolates
• Percol Fairtrade Coffees
• Sainsbury’s Own Brand Fairtrade Tea, Coffee, Chocolate and Drinking Chocolate
• Teadirect Tea, Organic Earl Grey and Organic Green Tea with Lemon Grass and Cinnamon
• Traidcraft Teas, Coffees, Geobars, Organic Chocolate bars, Boxed Chocolates, Sugar and Cookies
• Union Coffee Roasters Ground Coffee

Fairtrade products are also offered by more than 25 nationwide catering suppliers. For more information see our catering directory .