I received an email this afternoon promoting a product that claimed to have triple certification for "fair trade" and other properties. When I followed the link to the website there was no certification mark of any type from any certification entity, let alone any independent third party agency. Having been a subscriber to the well known publication that sponsered the email, I was very disappointed to see them associated with what appears to be "greenwashing". While this will not cause me to cancel my subscription, it likely will result in a letter to the editor and probably a comment to the company.

This lack of attention to detail and not publishing readily and obvious certification verification, is a major reason for the loss of credibility for certified products and green claims in general. Fair trade is an ambiguous term anyway, and to not post a certification logo to substantiate the claims, just adds to the confusion.