Is Fair Trade a solution to America's Product Safety Problems?

I wrote an Op Ed on America's Supply Chain Transparency Problem which I believe can be addressed by pursuing Fair Trade more deeply:

While America’s food, drug and toy manufacturers struggle with a lack of transparency in their supply chain, American consumers live with the consequences of poisoned food, lead coated toys and sick and deceased pets. Recently, I traveled to Peru with American importer Equal Exchange and saw a much different kind of supply chain (watch my trip slide show). Equal Exchange is a twenty-one year old worker-owned cooperative that imports and sells Fair Trade coffee, chocolate and tea. Equal Exchange doesn’t have problems with supply chain transparency because the Fair Trade certification process requires it. In many cases, Equal Exchange employees know the farmers and exporters personally and have stayed in their homes.

Full story

Watch my slide show from the Fair Trade trip to Peru with Equal Exchange

Technorati Tags: fair trade, coffee, peru, equal exchange, food, product safety, toy recalls

Comments

[x-ray fluorescence]

Hi,
Very nice post.Thanks for sharing your thoughts...