Is Your Chocolate Fair?
I’m happy to have Kind Lifer Katie (who has shared about sewing kids clothes and eco weddings) share this blog about the organization she works with, the Food Empowerment Project. They want to make the chocolate industry fairer!
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Buy Fair Chocolate!
By: Katie Gillespie
Photo source: ©Romano
Did you know that the worst forms of child labor, including slavery, are a huge problem in chocolate production? Seventy-five percent of the world’s cocoa is grown and harvested in Ghana and the Ivory Coast – countries where child labor, slavery and human trafficking is prevalent. Children (as well as adults) working on cocoa farms are exposed to dangerous working conditions, harmful agricultural chemicals and sometimes physical violence. Extreme poverty in the region forces many children to seek work on cocoa farms. When they arrive at these farms, most of these children receive no education, they are paid next to nothing if they are paid at all, they are housed in unhealthy living conditions and fed a diet lacking in necessary nutrients. You can read about this issue in more detail here.
A fantastic California-based nonprofit organization – Food Empowerment Project – has launched a campaign to end the worst forms of child labor in cocoa production. Food Empowerment Project is a vegan, food justice organization that has a number of great campaigns to address pressing concerns about human, animal and environmental forms of injustice.
When I found out about child labor, slavery and human trafficking in the chocolate industry, I was shocked and wanted to do something to make change. If you’re like me, you might be asking, “What can I do to help?” As members of The Kind Life community, we can do a few very easy and important things to help:
• Buy only FEP-recommended chocolate! Purchase vegan chocolate from companies that do not source cocoa from regions where the worst forms of child labor are common. Use this handy list as a buying guide! (They don’t have every brand, but it’s a great place to start! – AS)
• Sign a petition! Food Empowerment Project works tirelessly contacting companies to find out where they source their chocolate. Clif Bar has shockingly refused to disclose the country of origin for their chocolate! Sign this petition now to ask Clif Bar to be transparent in their sourcing.
• Spread the word! Post info on your social networks about Food Empowerment Project, their chocolate campaign and recommended chocolate list, as well as the Clif Bar petition.
• Volunteer and/or donate! If you want to get more involved, Food Empowerment Project would love your help and is always in need of volunteers and donations.
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Thanks Katie for sharing this great and really important information!!
Before we get too sad about one more thing we can’t have, I have good news! All of my favorite chocolate companies on the list are all on the recommended list (or the “working on it” list). I was suddenly devastated when I saw my new favorite chocolate company Chocolate Inspirations listed as “Cannot recommend: companies that did not respond.” I asked my team to reach out to them to find out why they weren’t on the awesome list and to urge them to get on it… only to find out that they are sustainable and fair trade and now they’re communicating with FEP. Hopefully they’re on their way to “recommended” status! If your favorite company isn’t on this list or isn’t recommended by FEP, reach out to them and urge them to make their practices sustainable and to get on FEP’s recommended list!
Is your favorite chocolate company on the recommended list?
I hope we can all get inspired to do something to help make chocolate production more kind!
21 comments
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I recently saw an televised interview with a political leader from an African nation. The name of the country and the politician have both left me, however his comments definitely have not.
During the interview the question of fair trade chocolate was raised. His response was rather enlightening. He said that he felt that, while the intention of fair trade was a good one, it is yet another example of the misguided attempts of westerners to find solutions in Africa which will not in the long term serve Africans.
The politician expanded his point by explaining that, from the African perspective, fair trade was simply another kind of foreign aid. While it might make westerners feel better, in would do little to improve life for Africans.
He then explained that, real improvement for Africans could only be had when they could not only grow coco for export, but also create the finished product for export. Value added good, exported to other countries would help to create jobs for Africans and in that way raise living standards.
Seen in that respect, the point he made was simply that fair trade, even with the best intentions was simply another form of economic inequity between the first world and the third world.
Those comments gave me pause to consider his points very carefully. Perhaps fair trade is a good place to begin, but we should perhaps be thinking on a larger scale.
I for one don't have any immediate ideas that might offer something more than fair trade does, at this moment in time. Perhaps however, others with the right connections may in fact have a greater capacity to do something on a larger scale and effect change that go well beyond simply being fair. -
I love chocolate and cannot get enough- but I only buy fair trade organic, and it does taste amazing! I also LOVE the organic makeup and bodycare made with real chocolate! http://www.theorganiccompany.com/store/Search.aspx?SearchTerms=chocolate&CatID=0 -
I was happy to see Equal Exchange chocolate on the "comfortable to recommend" section of the list. One of my best friends has Fair Trade sales events at her church several times each year, serving the dual purpose of raising money for her church and promoting fair trade items including chocolate and coffee. I bought an Equal Exchange dark chocolate bar and it is delicious!!! -
I am obsessed with chocolate. I keep thinking of new things to eat it on, or make with it! For Valentines Day I made homemade almond butter cups with organic, fair trade, raw chocolate hearts! Then I put them on top of vegan cupcakes! YUM!
http://www.organiclonicalee.com/2013/02/homemade-almond-butter-cups-for.html -
I Love Love Love Chocolate! And i am blessed to know a few friends who make chocolate. All of them use sustainable Fair trade products to make their goods! Sedona Chcolate Company (http://sedonachocolatesuperfoods.com/) and Lulu's Chocolate (http://www.luluschocolate.com/)share kitchen and suppliers. Also Gnosis Chocolate (http://www.gnosischocolate.com/) has some of the most dynamic combinations to enhance the potential of Raw Cacao!
Enjoy Beyond Fair!!! -
well thankfully I live in Venezuela and it's the only vegan thing I can find that is produced here, besides vegetables, fruits and legumes; so I don't have to worry about, also all the imported brands I can find here are the usual hershey's, m & m's and none of them are vegan, so I stick to my El Rey chocolate which has a lot of variety of darks and medium dark chocolates (all of them vegan) -
Hello Katie and all the other Kind Lifers,
This is so great to see this on such a big public place. I only just recently learned of this myself. I had heard "Fair Trade" talked about in reference to coffee and chocolate, but did not know all of the horrors it entailed. I even put a story about it on my profile on Saturday with a link to www.raisethebarhershey.org and I recently switched to Green & Black's dark chocolate for my veg chocolate fix. This list is definitely helpful, though.
So, again, thanks Katie for bringing us all this info on this important issue that not enough people are well-informed on.
Good luck to all of us on our Kind Journey :) -
It's a long list and we don't always know what the parent companies are of all the different chocolate brands. I looked through the list a few times to find different brands that I didn't see at fist; I generally just hit 'Ctrl+F' to find the text I'm looking for in the page.
I'm not sure where you live, but World Vision Canada has also compiled 'The Good Chocolate Guide' with companies that are slavery free; unfortunately not alll are vegan but most have some vegan choices. You can find that here http://voices.worldvision.ca/uncategorized/your-guide-to-ethical-chocolate
There's also an Chocofinder App available for iPhones, information here http://chocofinder.com/ -
Thanks for clarifying what I should have been able to see on my own.
Well, the good news is, I've been given a list of companies that are "recommended' to check out.
Appreciate it.
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Hi Steven,
Ghirardelli is on the list under 'Cannot recommend but at least responded'; they are owned by Lindt. -
I didn't notice Ghirardelli on any of the lists (good or bad). Can anyone clarify the situation for my current go-to vegan chocolate chip maker? Thanks,
S- -
I only just learned of the issue of child/slave labor in the chocolate industry last year, and I was glad to have found FEP's website. Thanks for all of the work your organization does.
Theo + Divine Chocolate are two of my fave fair trade brands. I'm glad to see this post + the link to the list of great chocolate companies that I will continue to support with my dollars.
I'm interested in seeing the movie The Dark Side of Chocolate {http://www.thedarksideofchocolate.org/}. If anyone has seen it, I'd love to know if it is informative. Thank you!
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