GoodGuide a start to uncovering mysterious products

Ever pick up a can in the grocery store and ask these questions: Where did this come from? How was it made? Who made it?

If you’ve asked these or similar questions, you probably realize it’s nearly impossible for the average Joe to find the answers – especially while standing under glaring grocery store lights.

A new Web site – www.goodguide.com – is collecting answers to these questions for more than 70,000 foods, toys and personal care items, and finally giving  consumers some guidelines on how to find healthy, products that are also environmentally and socially made.

GoodGuide is a great start to uncovering where the thousands of products found in the grocery store come from, but still leaves many questions unanswered. For example, Campbell’s Condensed Oyster Stew is the lowest rated canned soup on the site with a 2.9 out of 10 rating. Part of that score is based on Campbell’s 2.1 rating on its use of recycled materials. But that number doesn’t tell us anything except how Campbell’s compares to other companies. Does Campbell’s use any recycled materials? What materials do they use? Are those materials recyclable?

Another problem is the ratings are based on different data providers’ information. That’s why a company like Campbell’s can have a 10 out of 10 rating for Child Labor Policy and a 0 out of 10 for Global Labor Reporting. You’d think those to things would be at least somewhat related.

On the bright side, if consumers begin to pay attention to the GoodGuide, companies will also have to pay attention. That means they’ll need to up their scores by doing things like adding a biodiversity policy and reporting annual greenhouse gas emissions.

The goal should be two fold: keep consumers informed and businesses accountable. From that perspective, GoodGuide has been a long time coming. Hopefully, the site will help bring businesses out of the shadows and consumers from scratching their heads trying to decide between two cans of soup.