Who’s Trading Fair? - Liza Coffin

So you’ve been convinced that trading fairly is the way forward. But in practice, how easy is it to fill up your shopping basket with fair trade produce?

I traipsed off to my local town centre in Chelmsford, Essex to find out.

First on my list was Oxfam whose high profile ‘Make Trade Fair’ campaign left me in no doubt that I would find a treasure trove of fairly traded goodies. I wasn’t disappointed.

Traidcraft sweets, sugar, biscuits and Geobars; cashews from Apollo nuts; Oxfam’s own cocoa and honey; Tropical Wholefood’s dried mango, pineapple and papaya; Cafédirect; Teadirect; and chocolate, lots of chocolate… Green and Black’s Maya Gold, Dubble bars and a range of Divine chocolate from the Day Chocolate Company - all Fairtrade goods.

But for the majority, to pay a visit to Oxfam is to take a step out of their way. To transport fair trade from the niche to the mainstream the major supermarkets must stock it. To encourage people to buy fairly traded goods, it has to be made easy. Once convinced of the importance of buying fair trade food, the consumer will have to see fair trade coffee side by side with ordinary brands. And if more people are buying these products, more supermarkets will stock more fair trade produce.

So how about Tesco, where “every little helps”?

I didn’t even have to leave my armchair for this one. Tesco now have a page on their website listing the fair trade goods they stock (as does Waitrose). They claim to have “the biggest choice of Fairtrade products in the UK”. In theory they have everything from fruit to cookies, chocolate to coffee, tea, muesli and fruit juice. In practice? Not all branches stock the full range and even when buying online you are limited by the range available in your local store.

The Co-op has recently launched a TV ad campaign to publicise its own brand of fairly traded food. My local store stocks six brands of its own Fairtrade instant and ground coffee. It also has five brands of its own Fairtrade chocolate, as well as stocking Divine and Dubble and Cafédirect drinking chocolate. No fairly traded fruit though, and not a fairly traded tea bag in sight.

Shopping on the internet will provide you with the widest range of Fairtrade produce. But if you prefer to shop the traditional way and your favourite Fairtrade chocolate isn’t snuggled next to Cadbury’s, then it’s `always worth taking a peek at the organic food section in your local supermarket. Companies such as Green and Blacks and Clipper originally produced organic goods but are now producing a limited range of Fairtrade produce as well. So, bizarrely, a Fairtrade item will occasionally find its way onto the organic shelves.

If you thought I came home from my shopping trip empty handed then you are sorely mistaken. This is the verdict of a quick taste testing session of my spoils.

Green and Black’s Maya Gold (39p, 20g)

- dark, bitter, not too sweet – worth the price tag

The Day Chocolate Company’s Divine (49p, 50g)

- sweet and creamy – my favourite

Co-op’s own brand milk chocolate (39p, 50g)

- the cheapest, but tasteless

Co-op’s own gold roast instant coffee (£1.40, 50g)

- mild, smooth

Cafédirect 5065 instant coffee (£3.09, 100g)

- strong, bitter

Clipper Fairtrade tea (£2.29, 80 bags)

- weak, tasteless

Teadirect (£1.78, 80 bags)

- strong – a clear winner

For a complete list of who’s trading fair visit www.fairtrade.org.uk.