Economic Nutrition

Every day we make choices about how we spend our money. Most people want to make buying decisions that have a positive impact on their community and the planet. Likewise, many businesses want to showcase how their sourcing and employment principles have this same positive impact.

But what do you really know about the price you’re paying?

Price alone is not telling the full story.

Information about “where the money goes” is rarely available at the point of purchase. Due to the complexity of modern supply networks and ownership structures, it can be difficult to define your dollar’s impact along the input chain.

What is Economic Nutrition?

Nutrition labels for food were introduced in 1973. Burkey Belser’s accessible, transparent design revolutionized the way people eat and understand their agency as consumers of food products. The Economic Nutrition Certification Mark is modeled after food nutrition labels as an illustrative tool to show the financial information behind any product or service, equipping consumers with the knowledge they need to understand how their purchase impacts the economic health of communities.


The Certification Mark shows any consumer what their money pays for by displaying the percentage of every dollar spent by an organization to produce the certified product. Expenses like labour, materials, or marketing – even the geographic distribution of every dollar spent, is made visible by the Economic Nutrition Certification Mark.

Economic Nutrition is a new way to encourage businesses and consumers to invest in the future of local economies.

Why does it matter?

Enabling businesses with tools to show financial information beyond the price provides customers with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions. Economic Nutrition empowers consumers to choose products and businesses that support local economies so that every purchase becomes a meaningful investment.

How do I read an Economic Nutrition Label?

The information along the top of the label includes the business name and type of business structure, giving a frame of reference for the information being shared. The labels are derived from a business’s total operations costs for a fiscal year.

Information is then broken into two parts:

Where does the money go?

This section identifies where the money used to source inputs lands geographically across four categories: local, regional, national, and international. “Local” represents a Municipal area (city, town, or community) with “Regional” representing the respective Province of source (for Canadian users). “National” represents the respective Country and all costs beyond this level are grouped as “International.”

What does the money pay for?

This section breaks down the percentage of the organization’s costs by operating category. The category descriptions (such as salaries & wages, property costs, ingredients, etc.) are designed to be easily understood by a wide range of readers referencing multiple industries, products, and services for consistency when referencing.

National Certification Program

Economic Nutrition is a Certification Mark used under license from Shorefast and is currently being piloted for more widespread use. Businesses agree to follow a series of guidelines to ensure consistency in the display of values and accuracy of information presented.

Economic Nutrition is an initiative of Shorefast and part of the Shorefast Network’s toolset delivery and programming. The idea emerged on Fogo Island as a transparency tool for Shorefast’s community enterprises.

Shorefast Economic Nutrition Certification Marks are featured in Shorefast’s social enterprises:

Fogo Island Inn

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Fogo Island Fish

LEARN MORE

The Storehouse Restaurant

LEARN MORE

In The News

CBC interview with Diane Hodgins, Executive VP of Shorefast Network on Economic Nutrition

LINK

To focus on community strength, you have to follow the money, by Zita Cobb

LINK

It’s about knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing, by Nathalie Atkinson

LINK

Frequently Asked Questions

Economic NutritionCM is a concept that has been developed by Shorefast and is modeled after the practice of food nutrition labeling. 

Nutrition is defined as the branch of science that deals with nutrients, particularly its impact on humans.  To make the detailed science of food nutrition relatable when people were making food purchases, simple labels were developed to standardize the communication process.  Food nutrition labels identify the ingredients in our food and how the related nutrients impact our individual health when consumed, making us better informed about our food choices.

Shorefast’s Economic NutritionCM follows the same logic, with the intent of making the economy more relatable so individuals are better informed about the economic impact they can make when purchasing products and services. To simplify the detailed accounting and complex money flows that together represent the economic impact, Shorefast developed clear and simple labels to standardize the communication process. 

Economic NutritionCM labels clearly demonstrate where the money goes to source inputs for products and services with the goal of making consumers better informed about their purchasing decisions and the impact their purchase has on the health of their local community. 

To act in an Economically Nutritious manner means to be conscious of where the money goes when making a purchase decision. With this understanding, individual consumers can make significant impact the health of their local economies by being intentional in their purchasing practices.

Economic Nutrition is a Certification Mark used under license from Shorefast and is currently being piloted for more widespread use. Businesses agree to follow a series of guidelines to ensure consistency in the display of values and accuracy of information presented. Economic Nutrition is an initiative of Shorefast and part of The Shorefast Network programming. The idea emerged on Fogo Island as a transparency tool for Shorefast’s community enterprises.

The information along the top of the label includes the business name, type of business structure, and unit of measure, giving a frame of reference for information shared. The values are derived from a business’ total spending for a fiscal year.

Information is then broken into two parts:

Where does the money go?

This section identifies where inputs costs are sourced from geographically across four categories: local, regional, national, and international. “Local” represents a Municipal area (city, town, or community) with “Regional” representing the respective Province of source (for Canadian users). “National” represents the respective Country and all costs beyond this level are grouped as “International.”

What does the money pay for?

This section breaks down the percentage of costs by operating categories. The category descriptions (such as salaries & wages, property costs, ingredients, etc.) are designed to be easily understood by a wide range of readers referencing multiple industries, products, and services.

Economic Nutrition is an illustrative financial communication tool that gives a purchaser greater insight into how the money from their purchase of a product or service will be reinvested by the business. With this insight, purchasers have information beyond price alone. We have found that consumers want to make buying decisions that have a positive impact on their community and the planet. Economic Nutrition is an easy-to-read tool that allows users to quickly identify how much of their money is remaining in place and how it is being allocated.

Businesses and organizations want to clearly showcase to consumers how their sourcing and employment practices create positive impact in the places in which they operate. Economic Nutrition translates these efforts into an easy-to-understand tool at point of purchase. Economic Nutrition also allows operators to benchmark their procurement practices against internally set targets and industry standards, creating a measurable framework for improvement.

Shorefast has been employing Economic Nutrition across its social enterprises for years. Through practical experience, each organization has been able to use the label data to support their local focused procurement strategy, as well as to benchmark against geographic and spending targets. The labels have successfully provided greater transparency into our operations, deepened our relationships with our supplier network, and allowed users to connect and engage with our mission more clearly.

Currently the Economic Nutrition Certification Mark is not available for widespread use. We are undergoing an Economic Nutrition Pilot Program to determine how we can expand the certification program to a national scale. The Pilot is expected to be completed in Fall, 2025 after which we will launch the Economic Nutrition Certification Mark to businesses across Canada. If you are interested in receiving updates on the progress of the Pilot Program and the national launch, please sign up for our newsletter.

Shorefast is currently undergoing an Economic Nutrition Pilot Program where we are working with a select number of businesses and organizations to test, learn, and share how the Economic Nutrition Certification Mark can expand to a national scale. The Pilot Program is estimated to be completed in Fall 2025. Additional details on the Certification Mark Program and results of the Pilot will be released over the duration of the program. If you are interested in receiving updates, please sign up for our newsletter.

The goal of the Economic Nutrition Certification Mark is to offer greater transparency into how the purchasing decisions of businesses and consumers impact the health of their local, regional and national economy.

Please visit our Contact Us page for any additional inquiries.

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