The Politics of Food Labeling and Certification - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 625

Existing evidence thus suggests that, while there is demand for ethically labeled prod-
ucts and this demand seems robust to modest price increases, it may be limited in scope to
certain products, income groups, and demographics. In particular, these studies suggest
that women and high-end shoppers may be the most willing to spend extra money to pur-
chase products with ethical labels. The theoretical logic behind the observed income dis-
parity seems fairly straightforward. The gender discrepancy is consistent with the general
finding in the literature that women engage in politicized consumerism more frequently
than men do. Scholars point out that this trend has historical roots: women tended to play
a prominent role in early instances of political consumerism, including boycotts and food
price strikes (Micheletti 2004). It is also consistent with the broader finding in the litera-
ture that women tend to act more altruistically than men in situations involving charitable
giving or public goods investment (List 2004, Andreoni and Vesterlund 2001).
Finally, although price levels clearly impact consumer demand, there is also research
that supports the idea that quality considerations are significant to the supply of ethi-
cally labeled food. In a small survey of natural foods stores, grocery stores, and cafes,
Levi and Linton found that retailers offered Fair Trade certified products only if they
perceived customer demand for it, but that customer requests for fair trade options were
insufficient unless the retailer also perceived the product to be of high quality (Levi and
Linton 2003). This research is consistent with the idea that an ethical claim, valued by
the customer as it may be, is not enough to scale the market for labeled food; rather, ethi-
cal certification must be paired with quality.
The Production Process
heory
No amount of consumer demand will make a difference unless ethical labeling initia-
tives create positive results on the ground for farmers and farms. At the other end of
the supply chain from the ethical consumer is the production process being certified.
Labeled food makes specific promises about how the purchase of that food will affect the
people or place where it is produced. A key empirical question is whether and to what
extent those promises are kept.
The promises are different in the case of each certification standard. With regard to
the two labeling schemes considered in detail here, the Organic label promises that
the food it certifies is not produced with any chemicals on the organics-prohibited list
produced by the USDA. Additionally, proponents claim that organic food comes with
health benefits and environmental payoffs for the farm and its surrounding ecosystem.
The Fair Trade label promises that workers are guaranteed a price minimum and are paid a
social premium to be invested in local social programs, that food is grown in safe and healthy
working conditions with no child labor, and that sustainable environmental practices are
used. Each of the hundreds of existing food labels makes unique promises of this kind.