Know Your Products

Concerned with where your food comes from? Is it safe? How are the products made? Are they tested on animals? OneGreenPlanet.org has gathered some great apps for quick research on your favorite items. There was a time when we could please ignorance and buy products without knowing their history, and I think some companies loved that idea. Today we can be smarter and we must be smarter to keep ourselves and our environment healthy. I've listed a summary here, and the link is at the bottom of this page.

1. Farmstand - Eating local is becoming more than just a trend; it’s a way for people to reconnect with their food and their local communities. Farmstand allows you to keep this connection alive by providing you with information on where to find local area farmers’ market.

2. Dirty Dozen - Want to keep your body, your family and the environment safe from harmful pesticides? Start by speaking with your wallet and buy foods that require minimal to no pesticides to grow. The Dirty Dozen app made by the Environmental Working Group can help guide you in your purchases.

3. Animal Free - While certain products on store shelves are clearly sourced from animal, other times deciphering labels can be more difficult especially with ingredients like casein, gelatin, whey and L-Cysteine, which don’t sound like they’re derived from animals even though they are. The Animal Free app helps make humane shopping easier by identifying common and hidden animal ingredients.

4. Cruelty-Free - Thanks to the Leaping Bunny Program from the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC), it has been much easier to identify cruelty-free cosmetics in recent years. Now, there’s an app to assist you while you shop for makeup and hygiene products. The Cruelty-Free shopping guide lists over 200 U.S. and Canadian companies that do not test their ingredients, formulations or finished products on animals.

5. Buycott - Newest to the eco-shopping app world is Buycott, created by a 26-year-old freelance programmer. Buycott helps you purchase products that align with your values. Initially, you’ll set up a profile and select which issues and campaigns you support. Then while you’re shopping, you can scan a product to see what brand it belongs to, what company owns the brand, who owns the company and how the brand and company line up against your principles as outlined in your profile.


Action Item: If you have a smartphone, try one of these today. If you don't have a smartphone, you can visit these the websites and/or follow them on facebook for updates and information.

For Further Reading: Top 5 Apps for Conscious Consumers. Take your buying power a step further and check out these 10 additional apps for one that might interest you (Free2Work, Social Impact, GoodGuide and more).