Food Alliance ceases services and operations

The Food Alliance Board of Directors announced in its Winter 2013 e-newsletter that it has made decision to cease services and operations of the organization.

Serving as a comprehensive and credible sustainable food certification organization for the past 18 years, the Food Alliance says it is unable to endure financially under its current business model, and that the grant support it used to depend on has “become less obtainable and more competitive.”

Moving forward, the 501(c)(3) organization will continue to exist, and a revised board will “oversee the intellectual property and investigate ways in which the value inherent in the standards and criteria can be appropriately updated and applied in practice,” the e-newsletter states.

The organization says that certification clients are permitted to use the Food Alliance Certified seal on products through Dec. 31, 2013. The Food Alliance website will also be maintained and will continue to house marketing materials and FA Sustainability Standards through December 2013. A response mechanism for specific questions will also be linked through the website to access the organization’s board and volunteers.

The Food Alliance says operations and employment will be closed by Feb. 15.