According to Banana Link, the rapid expansion of the Rainforest Alliance certification "has invited a growing suspicion that much of its success can be attributed to the laxity of the certification criteria and the undemanding nature of the certification process. This includes criteria that are difficult to test or are fulfilled easily because they are very much open to interpretation, while the auditing of certified farms is open to compromise, when all the parties involved have a financial or other interest in creating a good impression".
Banana Link looked at the NGO's standards, verification systems and RA-certified banana, pineapple and tea plantations. The results are published in Rainforest Alliance and the Discount Supermarkets: Low Prices and Easy Standards?. Banana Link concludes that the "RA certification cannot guarantee sustainability at the same low prices which consumers have come to expect from the discount supermarkets".