Editorial process
1. Our Editorial Mission
MamiMarkets publishes content to help local & ethnic shoppers find, understand, and use authentic ethnic groceries with confidence. Every guide, recipe, ingredient explainer, and store spotlight we publish exists to serve that goal, not to pad search rankings or promote a vendor for commercial reasons alone.
This policy describes the standards every piece of content on MamiMarkets is held to, and the process it goes through before and after publication. It applies to our blog, ingredient and cultural guides, store and vendor pages, FAQs, and any other editorial content on the platform.
2. Editorial Principles
All MamiMarkets content is held to four principles:
Accuracy: Claims about ingredients, origin, preparation, nutrition, or vendors must be verifiable. We do not publish speculation presented as fact.
Cultural authenticity and respect: Because our content covers West & East African, Caribbean, South Asian, Filipino, Chinese, and Middle Eastern food traditions, we represent each culture's food, language, and practices accurately and without stereotype, ideally informed by people with direct lived or professional experience of that tradition.
Independence from vendor influence: A vendor's advertising spend, placement fee, or partnership status with MamiMarkets never determines what we say about their products, pricing, or service quality in editorial content.
Transparency: Readers can always see who wrote a piece, when it was last reviewed, what sources informed it, and how to flag a correction.
3. Who Writes and Reviews Our Content
Content is drafted by writers with relevant lived, cultural, or professional experience in the subject matter (e.g., a piece on Nigerian soup bases is written or reviewed by someone with direct cooking experience in that cuisine, not assigned generically).
Every published piece carries a byline: Author bios disclose relevant background, culinary training, regional/cultural ties, nutrition credentials, or years sourcing/selling the ingredients discussed so readers can judge the basis for our authority on the topic.
Content touching food safety, allergens, or health claims (e.g., "is palm oil good for you") is reviewed by someone with a nutrition or food science background before publication, and flagged for re-review if guidance in that field changes.
A second editor independent of the original writer reviews every piece before it goes live, checking facts, sourcing, and cultural framing.
4. Sourcing & Fact-Checking Standards
Factual claims about ingredients, origin, nutrition, or preparation methods are sourced from primary or authoritative references (e.g., food science literature, government nutrition databases, established culinary references, or direct vendor/producer confirmation), not from unverified blogs or AI-generated summaries taken at face value.
Claims about a specific store (hours, pricing, delivery radius, product availability) are verified directly with the vendor or against our own platform data at time of publication, and re-checked on our update cadence (Section 6).
We do not fabricate statistics, quotes, or studies. If we can't verify a claim, we either cut it or clearly frame it as anecdotal/community knowledge rather than fact.
Where we rely on community or anecdotal knowledge (e.g., "many Winnipeg Filipino households use this brand of vinegar"), we say so explicitly rather than presenting it with false precision.
5. Use of AI Tools in Content Production
MamiMarkets is transparent about where AI assists our editorial process:
AI tools may be used for drafting structure, generating first-pass copy, or summarizing research, never as the final word on a factual or cultural claim.
Any AI-assisted draft is fact-checked and culturally reviewed by a human before publication under the standards in Sections 3 and 4.
We do not publish AI-generated content that has not been reviewed by a qualified human editor, and we do not present AI output as a primary source.
6. Freshness & Update Policy
Every published article displays a "Last updated" date.
Store, pricing, and product-availability content is reviewed on a recurring basis (minimum quarterly, or immediately when a vendor reports a change) since this information changes faster than cultural or culinary background content.
Evergreen guides (e.g., "What is egusi?") are reviewed at least annually or sooner if new information emerges.
Material changes to a previously published piece are noted in the article itself, not silently edited.
7. Corrections Policy
We get things wrong sometimes, and we'd rather hear about it than have a reader lose trust silently.
Any reader can report a suspected error via the link at the bottom of every article or by contacting hello@mamimarkets.com.
Reported errors are triaged within 5 business days.
Factual corrections are made directly in the article, with a visible correction note and date at the bottom of the piece for anything that changes the meaning of a claim (minor typo fixes are not logged).
Repeated or significant inaccuracies tied to a specific writer or source trigger a review of other content from that writer/source.
8. Commercial Relationships & Disclosure
MamiMarkets is a marketplace, and vendors may pay for promotional placement. This relationship never determines editorial content, ratings, or recommendations.
Any content that is sponsored, vendor-commissioned, or includes affiliate links is clearly labeled as such at the top of the piece, in plain language, not buried in fine print.
Editorial staff evaluating or writing about a vendor disclose any personal or financial relationship with that vendor to their editor before the piece is assigned.
Store rankings, "best of" lists, and comparison content are based on disclosed, consistent criteria (e.g., delivery speed, customer rating, price, verification status), never on advertising spend.
9. Cultural Sensitivity & Community Standards
We default to the terminology a community uses for its own food and culture, and update our language when a community tells us we've gotten it wrong.
We avoid exoticizing language ("exotic," "weird," "strange") when describing ingredients that are everyday staples within their culture of origin.
Where regional or cultural variation exists (e.g., jollof rice across West Africa, or curry traditions across South Asia and the Caribbean), we acknowledge that variation rather than presenting one version as definitive.
Community feedback on cultural framing is taken seriously and can trigger a content revision even without a factual error, since respectful representation is part of our accuracy standard, not separate from it.
10. Health, Safety & Nutrition Content
Because food safety and health claims carry real risk if wrong, this content is held to a higher bar:
No content recommends specific health, allergy, or medical actions. We may describe known properties of an ingredient (e.g., common allergens) but direct readers to a medical professional for individual guidance.
Nutrition claims are sourced to recognized nutrition databases or peer-reviewed sources, not single blog posts or unverified social media claims.
Storage, handling, and food-safety guidance (e.g., for frozen seafood or unpasteurized products) is checked against current food safety authority guidance for Canada at time of publication.
11. User-Generated Content & Reviews
Customer reviews and ratings displayed on vendor pages are from verified purchasers and are not edited or removed for being negative, only for violating our community guidelines (harassment, hate speech, off-topic spam).
We do not fabricate or incentivize reviews. Any incentivized review program is disclosed on the review itself.
12. Feedback & Contact
We want this policy to be accountable, not decorative. If you think we've gotten something wrong factually, culturally, or otherwise, please tell us:
Editorial corrections: hello@mamimarkets.com
Report a cultural concern: hello@mamimarkets.com
Vendor/store data discrepancy: hello@mamimarkets.com
This policy itself is reviewed annually and updated as our editorial process matures.
