Transparency in a Complex Food System
Our food system is complicated. After ingredients leave the farm, even simple products might pass through many links in the food chain - processors, distributors, and other businesses - before they reach consumers.
These middle links often become invisible to consumers, despite the fact that many human rights abuses could take place at the processor level.
To maintain truth in labeling, Food Justice Certified uses three different labels to communicate to consumers how many links in the chain were certified in the production of a product.
For multi-ingredient products, such as soup, we require that a significant amount of the total ingredients are certified before our label can be placed on the product. But, manufacturers may pring "Food Justice Certified" in the ingredients list in this case.
For example: If a can of chicken soup only contains Food Justice Certified carrots, the manufacturer would print "Food Justice Certified carrots" in the ingredients list instead of placing a label on the front.
Why make it complicated? This encourages further development of certified supply chains, and prevents "fair-washing" or mis-labeling.
