Interrupción

My co-op grocery store recently carried a brand of fair trade organic blueberries called Interrupción. I was intrigued by the asterisk logo that very much resembled the "belly button" (where the stem meets the fruit) of the blueberry.

Image borrowed from potatoweather.blogspot.com

 So because I was a sucker for the clever logo, I checked out their website, where I learned that they carry many fair trade and organic products besides blueberries and the logo was merely a coincidence.

Regardless, this is an incredibly amazing organization. What they do is help farmers become certified fair trade and organic by helping foot the upfront costs. Once those goals are achieved, they encourage the producers to reach the pinnacle level of alternativo, in which they must complete at least five projects that go above and beyond fair trade and organic, such as: providing education for community children, creating renewable energy sources, initiating public health programs, and more.

They value transparency. My carton of blueberries tells me which Chilean communities grew my blueberries and the website tells me how many workers they have and how much money went toward social initiatives in 2009. The website also tells me they've put some of their more recent social initiative money toward rebuilding workers' homes damaged by last year's earthquake.

My co-op grocery store stopped carrying them the last time I went in, but I hope to see them and other products again soon. On their website is a listing of where they regularly carry products, in case anyone lives near any of these places.