Duas Rodas gains Fair for Life certification to meet consumer demand for traceability and transparency
04 Apr 2023 --- Duas Rodas is expanding the number of ingredients in its portfolio with Fair for Life Certification (FFL), which ensures that “items meet specific environmental management criteria and ensure full traceability of the raw material.” The company now provides FFL-certified South American staples such as yerba mate, acai, guarana and acerola, which are produced at its manufacturing units in Brazil.
Successful FFL certification requires producers to ensure that 80% of their products come from Fair Trade certified sources. Products displaying the FFL label are guaranteed to have come from environmentally friendly processes practiced by fairly-paid farmers across a transparent, traceable supply chain.
The company hopes that this certification will provide further transparency and traceability of its production chain and strengthen relationships with the communities of farmers who produce the raw materials.
“With Fair for Life, we will strengthen our purpose to contribute to social and environmental progress and improve the global food trade for a system beneficial to all parties involved,” says Rosemeri Francener, international business director at Duas Rodas.
Duas Rodas has gained Fair for Life certification for its ingredients.Certification and greenwashing
Consumer demand is high for products that can prove their environmental claims, especially amid the current storm surrounding greenwashing and ‘carbon-neutral’ goals on packaging.
Recognized certification by respected bodies is increasingly becoming the best means of tackling greenwashing claims.
With labels such as Organic, Fair Trade or V-Label only being awarded to products or companies that can meet and prove high sustainability or ingredient standards, such labels are proving to reassure consumers who have lost faith in often empty or meaningless sustainability claims from companies.
“Certification is one way to communicate to those stakeholders that you, as a business, are not just words,” Catherine Coward, sustainability director at sustainability brand strategist The Good Crowd, told FoodIngredientsFirst during IFE Manufacturing 2023 in London.
“To become certified, you are assessed across your whole business and supply chain on your impact on people and the environment.”
In similar news, The Sustainable Herbs Program (SHP) has updated its toolkit to support companies in ensuring a long-term, sustainable supply of botanicals. The toolkit enables companies to assess themselves ahead of applications and audits for various certifications.
Traceability and transparency
Recognized certification is a valuable means for producers to prove their sustainable practices.
Fully traceable supply chains are on the agenda for companies looking to boost their sustainability credentials further.
Many means of tracking and tracing products “from farm to fork” are outdated, often leaning heavily on paperwork.
According to Karst Kooistra, sourcing development director of Tradin Organic, digitizing such chains is the next step.
At this year’s BioFach show in Germany, he told FoodIngredientsFirst: “The issue of the digitization of supply chains is an exciting thing going on this year. Traceability is one of the most important things.”
By James Davies
