Fairtrade Foundation aims to boost bakery market share
to reach £2bn a year, four times the current level, by 2012,
according to its recent report Tipping the Balance.
It also wants to boost awareness of Fairtrade certification with 75 per cent of people in Britain recognising the Fairtrade mark and its significance over the same period. Awareness of Fairtrade certification is already growing; rising from 57 per cent of respondents last year to 70 per cent this year, according to the organisation's survey published in May. Awareness of Fairtrade sugar doubled from 6 per cent in last year to 12 per cent in 2008. This should increase further after Tate & Lyle's announcement that it hopes to convert its retail cane sugar range to Fairtrade by the end of this year. Fairtrade bakery products The number of Fairtrade bakery products has increased significantly, a spokesperson told BakeryandSnacks.com. Bakers are using a range of Fairtrade ingredients including mostly sugar and cocoa but also raisins, nuts and dried fruits. Divine Chocolate, co-owned by Kuapa Kokoo, a Ghanaian cocoa farmers' cooperative, now produces cookies and baked goods. In a statement issued last month the company announced the launch of mini chocolate chip cookies, brownies and muffins made from Divine 70 per cent dark chocolate. Also there are now five Fairtrade-licensed Eccles cakes, three with Hardens Foods Ltd, added the spokesperson. All the Eccles cakes merit the right to use the Fairtrade mark through their use of Fairtrade sugar. Hardens Foods also produces Fairtrade flapjacks as well as a range of chocolate cakes, shortbreads and cookies, according to the company's website. Winning Fairtrade accreditation Bakery products fall under the Foundation's composite category, whereby the ingredients are a mix of Fairtrade products from developing countries and others sourced more locally. Any product may carry the Fairtrade mark if more than 50 per cent of its total ingredients (calculated by dry weight) are sourced from Fairtrade-certified producer organisations But if the Fairtrade certified ingredient content is less than 50 per cent, the product may still be eligible if it has one significant Fairtrade ingredient that represents more than 20 per cent of the product's dry weight.
