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Eastern Region, 2nd Place:
Sevananda, Atlanta, GA
Central Region:
Whole Foods Market
Northbrook, IL
Western Region:
Jimbos, Carlsbad, CA
| Wholesome Sweeteners Holiday Display Contest
We would like to thank everyone who participated and submitted an entry for the Wholesome Sweeteners Holiday Display Contest. We had many good entries to choose from and it was no easy task to narrow these down. In a couple of the regions, we had no other choice but to call a two-way tie. So here are your winners!
Eastern Region -
1st Place - Larry Morris (New Morning, Woodbury, CT) - $750
2nd Place - Two-Way Tie - Gregg Gage (Good Health, Hanover, MA) and Brian Otis (Sevananda, Atlanta, GA) - $250 Each.
Central Region -
1st Place - Tammy Achee (Whole Foods Market, Houston, TX) - $750
2nd Place - Sheila Schwarz (Whole Foods Market, Northbrook, IL and a couple CAP Stores) - $500
Western Region -
1st Place - Will Griggs (La Montanita Co-Op, Albuquerque, NM) - $750
2nd Place - Two-Way Tie - Emily Larson (Jimbos, Carlsbad, CA) and Tracey Kittinger (Whole Foods Market, Phoenix, AZ) - $250 Each
Again, my thanks and congratulations to everyone who participated and we thank you for your continued hard work and support of our fantastic brand! --David Ledford
Thanks to you, our retailers, and your customers, Wholesome Sweeteners is the category leader* in Fair Trade Certified, organic and natural sweeteners (see Wholesome's rankings by item). We work hard evey day to assure that our products are made from the finest organic and natural ingredients and are Fair Trade Certified whenever possible. Retail and consumer support of organic and fair trade products really does make a difference.
For People: Meeting the Fair Trade Certified Market
Wholesome Sweeteners pioneered the Fair Trade Certified sweetener movement and continues to lead by bringing additional products into the Fair Trade market, among them, Wholesome's newest products, Fair Trade Certified Organic Amber and Raw Honeys.
The Fair Trade Certified logo is our guarantee to you and your customers that we pay the farmers a set premium price for their crops. The money is wired directly from our accounts to the cooperatives' accounts in Costa Rica, Malawi, Mexico and Paraguay.
Since 2005, when Wholesome fair trade certified their granulated sugar line, we have paid more than $1,900,000 in premiums to our cooperative partners. This means that farmers can compete against factory farms, send their kids to school, develop the quality of their crops and build community resources. The additional income also means thay can invest in USDA Organic certification.
According to TransFairUSA, the US certifier of fair trade products, consumer demand for socially responsible goods, including Fair Trade Certified products, is rising. An all-time high of 91% of Americans say they are likely to switch brands to help support a cause, when price and quality are equal. Fair Trade Certified, the most consumer-recognized label of social responsibility, is becoming an invaluable asset to businesses across the country.
For the Planet: Conventional Practice to Organic Cultivation
On average, a single acre can produce about 35 metric tons of organic cane or 3.5 metric tons of organic sugar. (A "metric ton" is an industrial description of weight; a metric ton weighs about 2205 pounds). In 2001, Wholesome Sweeteners' first year of operation under the Billington's/Imperial Sugar partnership, we bought 3,000 metric tons (or about 6.6 million pounds) of organic sugar from Paraguayan farmers.
In 2007, Wholesome bought nearly 30,000 metric tons (66.2 million pounds) of organic sugar from Paraguay. More than an increase in the demand for organic sugar production, these numbers reflect a 10-fold increase in land dedicated to organic cane cultivation in Paraguay alone--from 10,000 acres to nearly 100,000 acres.
Given this good news, we'd like to help continue the trend, converting acreage to organic cultivation and creating fair trade systems that support farmers' independence and community development.
With this in mind, we've developed this retail resource center. Should you have questions or concerns not addressed here, please feel free to contact Wholesome Sweeteners Customer Service Team at 800.680.1896 or info@OrganicSugars.biz.
*SPINS 2009
NOTICE TO OUR RETAILERS:
19 OCTOBER 2009. We have been made aware of a proposed change by the FDA regarding use of the ingredient term Evaporated Cane Juice. A consultation process is now open regarding this and the deadline for submissions is December 7th 2009. The FDA's reasoning for this change is that the term falsely suggests such sweeteners are a juice and not a dry product.
We at Wholesome Sweeteners have used this term for our organic and natural, minimally processed first crystallization sugars for over 10 years as it most accurately describes our products. It also clearly differentiates them from refined and semi-refined sugars that undergo the further chemical refining processes that are used to produce conventional white and brown sugars. We also believe that the term evaporation clearly informs the customer that the moisture has been removed and the ingredient is therefore a dry product and not in a juice form.
Though the FDA has described this process as current thinking, and any result will not be binding on themselves or the public, Wholesome Sweeteners will actively participate in the process to defend this ingredient description, as we believe it accurately describes some of our product range and is not misleading in any way.
However, we welcome the opportunity to work with FDA to clearly define the characteristics and minimal processing to convey the status of 'evaporated cane juice' on a sweetener derived from sugar cane. We will also use this process to help the consumer understand these processing differences between high quality natural and organic sugars and commodity refined and semi-refined cane and beet sugars.
NIGEL WILLERTON, CEO, WHOLESOME SWEETENERS, INC.
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