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  20/05/2019 | Ingredients

Rainforest Alliance and UTZ merger: mutual recognition offerings in cocoa, tea and hazelnut program

Beginning 1 July 2019, international environmental NGO Rainforest Alliance will be offering further mutual recognition offerings for its cocoa, tea and hazelnut programs, following its June 2017 merger with sustainable farming logo UTZ. Companies at the end of the supply chain will be able to source these listed Rainforest Alliance Certified and UTZ-certified ingredients (or a combination of both), and use either the Rainforest Alliance seal or UTZ labelling on product packaging, in accordance with local labelling regulations.

“The launch of this offering will ensure that farmers that invested in meeting our standards can soon access the fullest range of potential buyers we can connect them to,” says Ruth Newsome, Senior Manager of Strategic Markets Solutions at Rainforest Alliance.

This is in addition to the Chain of Custody Mutual Recognition that has been effective since December 2018, which allows companies to purchase both Rainforest Alliance Certified and UTZ-certified ingredients while only having one Chain of Custody certificate in place for either one of the current programs. UTZ and Rainforest Alliance merged in June 2017, forming a single agricultural sustainability standard addressing environmental and social issues around the world, including climate change, deforestation, poverty and unsustainable farming.

www.rainforest-alliance.org www.utz.org