FAIRTRADE GOES LUXURY WITH TRAIDCRAFT
Luxury Fairtrade sweets have arrived on supermarket shelves, thanks to fair trade pioneer Traidcraft working in partnership with Glisten Confectionery, one of the UK's leading confectionery companies.
The new luxury range benefits from high quality Fairtrade ingredients, such as hand-harvested almonds from Pakistan and Chilean flame raisins which are sun-dried at the foot of the highest mountain in South America.
These are new products for Traidcraft, and are available in:
* Nut mix - milk chocolate peanuts and almonds together with yoghurt coated peanuts and white chocolate Brazil nuts
* Raisin mix - milk chocolate and yoghurt coated Chilean flame raisins
Seasonal variants will be introduced later this year, including an exotic mix of coated summer fruits and some exciting winter treats.
The sweets will be available in Morrisons from Fairtrade Fortnight and www.traidcraftshop.co.uk and retail at £1.69 per 170g/180g bag.
Traidcraft trades with producers from across the developing world, working with over 100 producer groups in more than 30 countries.
Buying these sweets benefits several groups, including Mountain Fruits, which is working to improve the livelihood of people living in the higher areas of Pakistan's Karakorum Mountains. While the pure highland environment and glacial meltwater create excellent fruit, conditions are harsh for the farmers and their families, with summer temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius and extreme cold of below -10 degrees in winter.
By training farmers to increase production and dry their fresh fruit, Mountain Fruits is helping these poor communities to find new markets and earn more money for their improved products.
Also benefiting are farmers who grow the Chilean flame raisins used in the sweets, as Richard Astudillo of MiFruta explained.
"Fairtrade is the opportunity we needed to have a dignified income from our work and to improve the quality of life of our families. I thank Traidcraft for the support and hope it has given us."