10.07.2005 ET

(CSRwire) West Bridgewater MA - Equal Exchange, Inc., who began importing and marketing fairly traded coffee from small farmers in 1986, expressed grave doubts about the entry of the Nestlé Corporation into the Fair Trade system, as announced earlier today.

Equal Exchange co-founder and co-director Rink Dickinson said "Fair Trade to us means open and honest relationships with producers and with consumers. Nestlé has failed on both fronts for decades."

Nestlé S.A., the world's largest food conglomerate, continues to be the object of an ongoing boycott over its marketing techniques of infant formula to third world mothers, as well as the target of other boycotts.

Citing the food giant's appalling track record on a number of ethical fronts over the years Dickinson added, "For generations, Nestlé has been anything but a friend to small farmers. A token gesture of this scale will only serve to mislead consumers that the company has suddenly reformed itself."

A worker-owned cooperative, Equal Exchange this year will import 100% of its 4 million pounds of high quality coffee on Fair Trade terms from small farmer cooperatives throughout the developing world. The business has for years encouraged larger companies to join them in building secure markets for marginalized farmers. However, the company believes that few farmers will in fact be helped by Nestlé's meager commitment to Fair Trade.

Equal Exchange's co-director, Rob Everts said, "We understand what it takes to commit to more equitable relationships with small coffee farmers. We have long recommended that for large corporations the Fair Trade starting point should be 5% of their total imports. Given Nestlé's dismal track record on many fronts in the developing world, they have an even steeper credibility hill to climb than most, and should in fact begin even higher than 5%. Large companies tend to subsidize their modest Fair Trade purchases by paying farmers much lower prices on the rest of their coffee imports."

Equal Exchange, a market leader in Fair Trade coffee and other foods since 1986, is a full service provider of high quality, organic coffee, tea, cocoa, chocolate and sugar to retailers and food service establishments. Major customers include Shaw's, Stop & Shop, Hannaford supermarkets, natural food stores, consumer food cooperatives, cafés, and thousands of places of worship nationwide. 100% of Equal Exchange products are fairly traded, benefiting over 30 small farmer cooperatives in 16 countries around the world. In keeping with its Fair Trade mission Equal Exchange is a worker cooperative, owned and democratically controlled by its employees.

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