AJP trains certifiers to carry out certification according to our standards and certification program.

Trained certifiers could be organic certifiers or other social justice certifiers. For a current list of certifiers approved to offer AJP certification, click here.

Certifiers must meet certain benchmarks for rigor and competence, and must operate according to the AJP policy manual. Participating certifiers must be accredited, or reviewed, by AJP's Accreditation Committee, and trained at an official AJP inspectors trianing.

AJP does offer technical assistance for operations that need guidance to meet the standards. For more information on technical assistance packages, click here.

Workers organizations (farmworkers, restaurant workers, etc) participate in inspections of entities that have hired labor, whether they are farms or businesses.

Participating certifiers contract with representatives of worker organizations (according to a process specified in the AJP policy manual) to attend inspections, interview workers and contribute input to the final certification decision making process.

The participation of the worker representative builds credibiltiy into our certification process, by crossing language barriers and ensuring that someone with workers rights expertise and awareness of potential red-flags has visited every AJP certified operation with labor.

The worker organizations also develop relationships with the employers of AJP certified operations, and can serve as a resource for offering health and safety trainings, AJP trainings, and other assistance.

Food Justice Certified is based on the AJP standards which were developed specifically for North American food system operations. Many social justice labels in the marketplace today, such as Fair Trade, have been developed to meet the needs of small farmers in the southern hemisphere selling to buyers in the northern hemisphere. Food Justice Certified brings the concept of fair trade to the domestic setting.

The AJP standards were developed with extensive input from stakeholders, including farmworkers, food system workers, farmers, certifiers, processors/manufacturers, retailers, and representatives of indigenous populations. Our highly participatory method for creating this program has allowed us to find the gold standard for social justice in our food system that is functional and achievable for all business types.

Additional pieces of our program that set us apart are:

• Participation of worker representatives in inspections

• High percentage requirements for labeling multi-ingredient products promotes transparency to consumers

• Tiered labeling starting at the farm level and highlighting products certified at both the farm and processor level also improves transparency in labeling for consumer