A Statement from the Chair and MD

Nicola Taylor • December 6, 2024

Statement Regarding Products from Eswatini Kitchen

As some of our customers are aware, it came to our attention on 27th November that there is a quality issue with our Peach and Ginger Jam that we source from our supplier, Eswatini Kitchen.

We are investigating the issues. We have sent samples to an independent laboratory for testing to help us understand the issue and whether it impacts other products from the same production run. We are also working closely with Eswatini Kitchen to identify the root cause and prevent it from happening again.

As of 6 December, we are still awaiting the lab results and on further feedback from Eswatini Kitchen. We will keep you updated as soon as we have more information and issue further instructions as appropriate.

In the meantime, the guidance remains the same: we advise that you do not sell or consume the products listed on the original email (see below for reminder of the list). Please be aware that products with gold lids are from a previous production run and are NOT impacted. We have now included a photo to show where the producer details can be found to help you identify the products:

Please also be assured that this issue is isolated to the Eswatini Kitchen product range and these products are no longer available on our website. The rest of our Christmas gifting range is not affected as we source these products from other suppliers.

As a small social enterprise, this situation has been incredibly challenging for us and has come at a time of many other pressures. Like many small businesses, we rely on sales in the lead up to Christmas to keep us afloat throughout the year, sustaining five jobs here in Paisley, enabling us to work directly with and support marginalised producers in four African countries as well as supporting other fair trade businesses and also tackling poverty here in the UK.

As a valued customer, your support up has been the reason we’ve been able to continue running our social enterprise and trading fairly. If you can, we ask that you keep buying from our Christmas gift range and across our wider range True Origin | Food that has True Impact at Origin – True Origin Retail .

Thank you for your patience and understanding and for supporting fair trade. This really does mean the world to us.

If you have any further questions or would like to discuss ways to support us, please get in touch: info@trueorigin.org.uk

Mary Popple and Tracy Mitchell

Products affected are listed below and also Gift Packs that contain any of these items: