First Fair for Life Fair Trade Certified Aloe Vera to Hit US Market

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) April 21, 2010 -- San Francisco, CA – April 21, 2010 – The Institute for Marketecology (IMO) recently
announced certification of the first Fair for Life Fair Trade Certified aloe vera on the US
market. The juice from the leaf of the aloe vera plant is used as an ingredient in food and
beverages, nutraceuticals and personal care products. In March 2009, having met IMO’s
stringent fair trade, social and environmental standards required for Fair for Life Social &
Fair Trade certification, Florida Food Products now offers fair trade certified aloe vera to

manufacturers worldwide.

Beginning with building a factory in 1993 in the El Progresso region of Guatemala,
Florida Food Products has long worked towards building strong relationships and
business to act as a stable fair trade employer and contract buyer of aloe vera leaves from
local farmers. Providing fair compensation to both farmers and factory employees has
long been part of the company’s philosophy. As demand for aloe vera as an ingredient
has increased in the US, so has demand for aloe vera leaves and production. Vice-

President/Owner, Tom Brown explains, “In the beginning five years the operation was
small with limited sources. Over the last ten to twelve years employment has more than
doubled. When running the factory and farms, total employment including managers is
about 65 people. When weeding and harvesting our farms there are about 25 more
workers employed. In addition, the self employed vendor growers are at times
employing additional workers for farm activities, harvesting and weeding. This is the
direct activity of our operations - most of the employment gains have been at the vendor
grower level.”

In 2009, Florida Food Products chose to prove their commitment to social and fair trade
practices by selecting IMO to evaluate their supply chain beginning to end. The system
of measuring the performance towards the Fair for Life Social & Fair Trade Certification
Program allows gradual improvement and demonstration of achievements to the public.
Due to the detailed scrutiny of social and environmental issues along the entire value
chain from production through processing, organizations are cautioned not to expect
certification in the first year, yet Florida Food Products worked hard to gain certification.

More information about Florida Food Product’s certification is available at the Fair for
Life website (www.fairforlife.net) under the list of certified operators.

Fair for Life Social & Fair Trade Certification by IMO is now celebrating its third
anniversary of certifications. This certification program created an opportunity for
producers and products that had not previously been eligible for fair trade certification
according to product specific standards. Fair for Life opened fair trade certification to
many new producers and has raised the bar for Fair Trade brand holders.

fair for life     fair trade     Fair Trade Aloe