Ethical Consumer
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Very poor ranking system
This is to endorse the poor reviews posted previously by J.B. and Thomas. Although I have been buying the EC magazine since a year or two after it was extablished, I have had issues with its ranking system. My partner and I have written to the magazine a few times, highlighting glaring discrepancies, but neither of us has ever received any reply. I think my last email was regarding their top-rated investment funds, which also held shares in one of the companies that they had rightly ranked very poorly. As another example, Lily's Kitchen Ltd organic pet food company is a certified B Corp, but because it was purchased by Nestle three years ago, EC magazine has given it a ZERO score out of 20! This is despite the fact that Lily's Kitchen works at arm's length of Nestle, is still run by its old CEO, and still employs ethical processes for its function. How buying ethically-sourced, organic, palm-free ingredients from a B Corp company with good credentials can be more damaging and should rate below buying goods from another company that mistreats animals, the environment, its workers etc is simply beyond comprehension. Under Lily's Kitchen Ltd company profile, EC states the same negatve credentials as those of Nestle's. To say, for example, that Lily's Kitchen is responsible for water extraction in California is beyond ludicrous. As mentioned in the beginning, others have outlined similar issues. Far more care is required by EC's staff in ranking products and companies. In short, EC seriously ought to revisit and overhaul their scoring system.