One of the critical factors required in order to keep a manufacturing facility profitable is the cost of labor. Companies that are both large and small seek cheaper labor in order to offset the final cost which enables them to stay competitive. Unfortunately, the price that has been paid has been more than just payroll. The environment has been upset due to carelessness for the land or illegal dumping of waste. Then there is the cost of illness and death due to carelessness from product recalls. Enough is enough. For some people, unless they make it themselves, they won’t buy it. That may seem like the perfect solution but for most of our world, it is very time consuming and not very practical. The Fair Trade Certified™ Label guarantees consumers that strict economic, social and environmental criteria were met in the production and trade of an agricultural product. Fair Trade Certification is currently available in the U.S. for coffee, tea and herbs, cocoa and chocolate, fresh fruit, flowers, sugar, rice, and vanilla. TransFair USA licenses companies to display the Fair Trade Certified label on products that meet strict international Fair Trade standards. In this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, Bena Burda, President and CEO of Maggie’s Functional Organics (http://www.maggiesorganics.com) will be my guest to talk about the new pilot program FairTradeUSA has in order to not only protect the workers but to ensure the quality of the products. She will discuss how the organization helps farmer groups to establish fair prices, fair labor conditions, their policy against child labor, how the farms are able to invest Fair Trade wages, community development and environmental sustainability. If you would like to learn more about this wonderful organization and how they are working together to make products safer while protecting the environment, stay tuned!