Fairfood wants to stimulate and help consumers to choose fair food- and beverage products. Therefore, Fairfood compares the fairness of brand products within a product group. Fairfood holds the view that brand owners are responsible and accountable for the production, processing and trading conditions of the entire production chain of a brand product. Fairfood asks brand owners to take away concerns about sustainability in the entire chain of the selected ingredient of the brand product.

To enable Fairfood to compare brand products, it is necessary that brand owners offer transparency in a comparable and standard way. This is why Fairfood urges brand owners to complete one or more Product Fairness Questionnaire(s). Information, for example about the general policy regarding corporate social responsibility, which is not presented in this comparable and standard format, cannot be used in Fairfood’s research. After all, in order to be able to make an informed choice, consumers need to have access to comparable information.

Fairfood sends brand owners one Product Fairness Questionnaire for each brand product, which enquires about the sustainability achievements in the production chain of one specific ingredient that is selected by Fairfood. Achievements are measured by means of various criteria, concerning ecological, social and economical sustainability. These criteria are all based on international conventions, agreements and norms.

A Product Fairness Questionnaire, completed by the brand owner, provides the comparable information required by Fairfood to make a comparison between brand products within a product group. A product group consists of brand products that are highly interchangeable, i.e. similar in their utilisation. Examples of product groups are peanut butter, bananas and chocolate bars. The fairness-score of the brand products is determined by the answers to 32 questions. For each question, a score can be obtained. A product’s total fairness-score is the sum of the sustainability-score per question plus a possible score per question for an increase in sustainability. After a comparison of scores has been made, Fairfood places a brand product in one of the categories ‘fair’, ‘inbetween’ or ‘unfair’:
• Fairfood places a brand product in the category ‘fair’ if this brand product scores above average regarding (increasing) sustainability, compared to other brand products of the same product group. Therefore, by placing a product in the category ‘fair’, Fairfood is not giving an absolute quality label which assures that a brand product has been produced according to certain minimum standards.
• Fairfood places a brand product in the category ‘inbetween’ if this brand product scores above zero, but below average for (increasing) sustainability, compared to other brand products of the same product group. Placement in this category requires that there is a certain level of (increasing) sustainability indicated by at least one answered question.
• Fairfood places a brand product in the category ‘unfair’ if the brand owner cannot, or is not willing to, answer any question about (increasing) sustainability. By placing a brand product in the category ‘unfair’, Fairfood does not necessarily claim that its production automatically causes an increase of hunger and poverty in developing countries.

Fairfood bases its decisions (i.e. calculation of the score and placement of brand products in fairness categories) on comparable product information that is validated by the brand owner. Fairfood assumes that the given answers are correct. Answers that are given by the brand owner should be supported by reliable evidence that is readily available on request.

Brand products, which have remarkably high scores or for which remarkable answers have been given on the questionnaire, will be selected for further examination. A remarkable answer is for instance when one brand owner’s answers differ remarkably from other brand owners’ answers regarding products in the same product group, and/or when the given answers do not match the situation in the sector. To optimize the assurance procedure, a representative random selection of several questionnaires will be selected as well.

The questionnaires selected for the assurance procedure, will be examined by Fairfood in more depth. Fairfood shall request for reliable reproducible information from the brand owner. If doubt remains, a second opinion from an adequate independent third party could be initiated.

If Fairfood regards the provided assurance to be insufficient, Fairfood could decide to consider the questions to be unanswered, leading to a categorisation as ‘unfair’. Furthermore, Fairfood may also decide to categorise all brand products from the same brand owner as unfair.

By means of letters, e-mails, phone calls and/or visits, Fairfood informs the brand owners, who have been approached to complete the Product Fairness Questionnaire, in a timely and thorough manner.

If you have any questions or remarks, please send a message to hugo.hooijer@fairfood.org.