Ben & Jerry’s To Go Fair Trade

Ben & Jerry’s has just given us one more reason to indulge in our favorite alternative to sex: ice cream. OK, we’d always choose the grind over any food, so long as he knows what he is doing, but ice cream is available at every corner deli and pretty soon, it will be available guilt-free.

So when we talk about guilt here, we are talking about human rights guilt, not caloric guilt. The sugar intake resulting from a Chunky Monkey binge will remain, but pretty soon you’ll know that the Vermont-based ice cream giant will use fair trade ingredients across the board.

The company announced its commitment to go fully fair trade across its whole flavor portfolio by using Fair Trade Certified ingredients for all products, by the end of 2013. This builds upon the company’s use of fair trade certified ingredients, which began in 2005. The main 11 ingredients that can be converted include cocoa, banana, and vanilla, as well as other flavors, fruits and nuts.

Co-founder Jerry Greenfield nailed the mission of fair trade and consumer guilt in this statement: “Fair Trade is about making sure people get their fair share of the pie. The whole concept of Fair Trade goes to the heart of our values and sense of right and wrong. Nobody wants to buy something that was made by exploiting somebody else.”

NOTE: Click here for more information on Fair Trade. The easiest way to incorporate this into your daily routine is to start buying as many fair trade items as possible, for a just slight increase in cost. Ask yourself this—if I’m willing to pay for organic, why shouldn’t I pay a bit more so that farmers are paid a real and fair wage?  Start with coffee, chocolate and sugar…