Chocolate and Child Slavery: Say No to Human Trafficking this Holiday Season

[soleiltropiques]

The prevalence of human trafficking, child slavery, and abusive labor practices in the cacao industry is surprisingly under-reported. With the average U.S. citizen eating over 11 pounds of chocolate (that's about 120 chocolate bars), per year, it is incredible to consider how few of us are aware of the atrocities involved in 70 percent or more of

Comments

[lizrocks]

Just FYI, the link to the Hershey's survey says:

The survey you requested: "hershey01/CSR_Survey.htm" has been deactivated.

It has been closed by the owner of the survey. This is not an error.

If you have questions regarding this survey please contact the owner of the survey directly.

[chaya]

Wondering why names aren't named.

[ebay313]

Oh this topic just a reminder for folks who might not know- you can download buycott on your smartphone, and sign up for this (boycotting companies that use child slavery to make chocolate) campaign. Whenever you are shopping, just use your phone's app to scan the barcode of a product and it will tell you if it conflicts or not. Including non-chocolate products produced by the same companies doing these things.

[anaralia]

Thank you for this information!

[astridmyrna]

Holy shit I didn't know Newman's Own made chocolate! I also found a link that easily lists companies, how fair they are, and what products they sell (for you bakers like myself!):
http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery/main.html

[lovelokest]

Knew about child slave labor in chocolate production but not about how fair-trade may not actually be fair at all.

If you're in the US and looking for ethically sourced chocolate made by a good company, give Gail Ambrosius a try. It's about respect... explains why she doesn't use fair trade or certified organic cacao.

(The Goodman Center hearts are really nommy).