It is sometimes not enough to know that alternatives exist - sometimes we need to know why the alternatives are preferable. Fairly traded chocolate is the most ethical and most loving option to be found today. But there are best and there are worst of the worst. While none of the large chocolate producers is taking adequate steps to solve their labor problems, it seems that Hershey's has fallen back even from that dragging pack.
Hershey's is the largest manufacturer of chocolate and candy in the US. According to a September, 2010 report by Global Exchange, Green America, International Labor Rights Forum, and Oasis, Hershey's main areas for improvement are Sourcing, Transparency, Greenwashing, and Certification. Hershey's does not have a system in place to ensure that cocoa sourced from West Africa is not produced by human trafficking, forced labor, or child labor. The company does not reveal where its cocoa comes from or name its suppliers. Hershey's donates money to charitable organizations in West Africa and is a member of the World Cocoa Foundation, but the company itself has no policy in place to prevent slave produced chocolate. The company has not taken significant steps toward using a third-party certification such as Fair Trade.
In a graph dated September 2010, Sustainalytics (a sustainability research and analysis firm) contrasted the policies of several of the largest chocolate candy producers and cocoa importers. The graph outlines company policies, monitoring programs, MSI capacity building (go to www.msiworldwide.com for more info), certified cocoa procurement and quantitative goals and dates for its procurement, and company disclosure of progress made toward each of these goals. In order of best to worst, the companies are: Callebaut, Cadbury Kraft (not available in the US - Hershey's holds the US Cadbury contract), Mars, Lindt and Sprungli, Kraft, Nestle, ADM, Olam, Cargill, and, dead last, Hershey's. Hershey's company profile on www.responsibleshopper.org has even more implicating information.
So this Halloween, if you run out of time to order great candy from the available fantastic sources, please at least avoid Hershey's products:
5th Avenue, Almond Joy, Breathsavers, Bubble Yum, Cadbury, Reese's, Good & Plenty, Heath Bars, Icebreakers, Jolly Ranchers, Kit Kat, Mauna Loa, Milk Duds, Hershey's Miniatures Mounds, Mr. Goodbar, Pay Day, Rolo, Skor, SnackBarz, Snacksters, Hershey's Granola Bars, Symphony, Hershey's Syrup, Take 5, Twizzlers, Whatchamacallit, Whoppers, York, Young & Smylie Licorice, Zagnut, Zero
Friday, September 24, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The Treat (Chocolate Part 2)
If you aren't craving chocolate right now, you're about to be. Consider yourself warned. Now, ready to copy and paste some websites into your browser?
www.naturalcandystore.com - An absolutely wonderful online candy store located out of Concord, CA. You can order for delivery or for customer pickup. Looks FANTASTIC for Halloween. Also? Free samples with every purchase.
www.organiccandy.com - I love this website, background music and all. All candies manufactured exclusively in Canada and the US in fair wage factories, using only adult-produced, fairly traded raw materials. They even sell cotton candy. Mmmm.
www.globalexchange.org - Such a great resource. Anything you click will be informative and inspiring, but first check out the Fair Trade Store: www.globalexchangestore.org, as well as this list of 100% fair trade companies: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/retailers.html
Also available at Global Exchange - Reverse Trick-or-Treating Kits to help raise awareness for fairly traded chocolate.
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/reversetrickortreating/
www.sweetearthchocolates.com - Halloween candy, truffles, wedding favors, individually wrapped chocolate candies (like peanut butter cups, oh my aching sweet tooth), baking chocolate and cocoa powder, and so much more of the most amazing looking chocolate I have ever seen.
http://www.katescaringgifts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=ROBINS_SAUCE - Chocolate syrup for your ice cream. Hershey's who?
http://www.equalexchange.coop/cocoa - Cocoa powder and different hot chocolate mixes. Winter demands hot cocoa!
http://www.divinechocolateusa.com, http://www.greenandblacks.com, http://sjaaks.com/fair_trade - Divine Chocolate, Green and Black's Organic Chocolate, and Sjaak's Organic Chocolate are somewhat well-known fair trade chocolate producers and look scrumptious. You can see videos of cocoa farmers and their families on the Divine Chocolate website.
If you want even more resources, here are two addresses of huge lists of fair trade chocolate resources.
http://www.greenpromise.com/resources/organic-chocolate-suppliers.php
http://transfairusa.org/content/certification/licensees.php?category=Cocoa&include=Everyone&sort=name
For even more (yes, there is more!), type "Fair Trade Chocolate (or Cocoa or Baking Chocolate or Candy or...)" into your favorite search engine. And go recover from your vicarious and ethically produced sugar coma.
www.naturalcandystore.com - An absolutely wonderful online candy store located out of Concord, CA. You can order for delivery or for customer pickup. Looks FANTASTIC for Halloween. Also? Free samples with every purchase.
www.organiccandy.com - I love this website, background music and all. All candies manufactured exclusively in Canada and the US in fair wage factories, using only adult-produced, fairly traded raw materials. They even sell cotton candy. Mmmm.
www.globalexchange.org - Such a great resource. Anything you click will be informative and inspiring, but first check out the Fair Trade Store: www.globalexchangestore.org, as well as this list of 100% fair trade companies: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/retailers.html
Also available at Global Exchange - Reverse Trick-or-Treating Kits to help raise awareness for fairly traded chocolate.
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/reversetrickortreating/
www.sweetearthchocolates.com - Halloween candy, truffles, wedding favors, individually wrapped chocolate candies (like peanut butter cups, oh my aching sweet tooth), baking chocolate and cocoa powder, and so much more of the most amazing looking chocolate I have ever seen.
http://www.katescaringgifts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=ROBINS_SAUCE - Chocolate syrup for your ice cream. Hershey's who?
http://www.equalexchange.coop/cocoa - Cocoa powder and different hot chocolate mixes. Winter demands hot cocoa!
http://www.divinechocolateusa.com, http://www.greenandblacks.com, http://sjaaks.com/fair_trade - Divine Chocolate, Green and Black's Organic Chocolate, and Sjaak's Organic Chocolate are somewhat well-known fair trade chocolate producers and look scrumptious. You can see videos of cocoa farmers and their families on the Divine Chocolate website.
If you want even more resources, here are two addresses of huge lists of fair trade chocolate resources.
http://www.greenpromise.com/resources/organic-chocolate-suppliers.php
http://transfairusa.org/content/certification/licensees.php?category=Cocoa&include=Everyone&sort=name
For even more (yes, there is more!), type "Fair Trade Chocolate (or Cocoa or Baking Chocolate or Candy or...)" into your favorite search engine. And go recover from your vicarious and ethically produced sugar coma.
Monday, September 20, 2010
The Trick (Chocolate Part 1)
70% of the world's cocoa supply comes from West Africa, particularly Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. Traditionally, children have always worked alongside their families on the farms, but that practice has turned into a system wherein children are trafficked in to work. Families believe that their sons will have a better life with better pay to send home, but once the children get there, they are at the mercy of their "employers."
The problem that fuels this system of trafficking and slavery is poverty. World cocoa prices are unstable and have been far below production costs over the last decade. Although cocoa prices have gone up a little in the past few years, producers are still in debt from when prices were low. Economic crises have forced farmers to cut their labor costs to survive. They have had to take their children out of school to help on their farms, and other children have been forced to look for work to help support their families, leaving them vulnerable to traffickers. As of 2000, trafficking of persons is not prohibited by Ivorian law.
There are some measures being taken by large candy producers, but they are not nearly effective enough. In 2001, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and the World Cocoa Foundation signed a voluntary agreement called the Harkin-Engel Protocol. The signing was witnessed by Senators Harkin and Kohl, Representative Engel, the Ambassador of Cote d'Ivoire, and industry representatives. Tulane University was contracted to research and measure progress toward the agreement's objectives. The deadline to end the worst forms of child labor was first extended to 2008, and then to 2020. It does not guarantee an end of child trafficking, adult forced labor, or fair prices for the farmers.
Some candy producers, such as See's Candy, Lindt, and Russell Stover's, insist that they do not use chocolate produced in Cote d'Ivoire. The problem is that by the time the chocolate reaches the United States, the beans picked by hired laborers and the beans picked by slaves have been through warehouses, ships, and trains together, making it impossible to tell for sure where they originated. Other candy producers, such as Hershey's and Mars, belong to the World Cocoa Foundation, but as the Foundation grinds along trying to eradicate the worst forms of child labor, the root of the problem remains, and the producers continue to use and distribute slave-picked chocolate.
Fortunately for chocoholics, ethically produced chocolate is more and more widely available. A good alternative to the huge candy producers' questionable products is chocolate that is Fair Trade Certified. A Fair Trade certification means that purchasers of cocoa (as well as sugar, bananas, tea, coffee, cotton, and many other products) agree to pay at least a minimum set price to the farmers. This enables the farmers to live on the proceeds of their farms, pay their workers enough for the workers to live on, and allow their children to go to school. It also allows the communities to improve, funding hospitals and schools. It can effectively break the cycle of poverty. The cocoa purchasers can label their goods as "Fair Trade Certified," and consumers can enjoy chocolate that does not exploit workers and children. As demand grows, large candy producers are slowly investing more in Fair Trade cocoa. In the UK especially, consumer demand is driving some companies to serious, lasting change. In the meantime, you and I can stop contributing to a system that steals, kills, and destroys.
So that's the bad news. Ready for the good news? In the next post, we'll look at some alternative brands and places to buy ethically produced baking chocolate and candy.
The problem that fuels this system of trafficking and slavery is poverty. World cocoa prices are unstable and have been far below production costs over the last decade. Although cocoa prices have gone up a little in the past few years, producers are still in debt from when prices were low. Economic crises have forced farmers to cut their labor costs to survive. They have had to take their children out of school to help on their farms, and other children have been forced to look for work to help support their families, leaving them vulnerable to traffickers. As of 2000, trafficking of persons is not prohibited by Ivorian law.
There are some measures being taken by large candy producers, but they are not nearly effective enough. In 2001, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and the World Cocoa Foundation signed a voluntary agreement called the Harkin-Engel Protocol. The signing was witnessed by Senators Harkin and Kohl, Representative Engel, the Ambassador of Cote d'Ivoire, and industry representatives. Tulane University was contracted to research and measure progress toward the agreement's objectives. The deadline to end the worst forms of child labor was first extended to 2008, and then to 2020. It does not guarantee an end of child trafficking, adult forced labor, or fair prices for the farmers.
Some candy producers, such as See's Candy, Lindt, and Russell Stover's, insist that they do not use chocolate produced in Cote d'Ivoire. The problem is that by the time the chocolate reaches the United States, the beans picked by hired laborers and the beans picked by slaves have been through warehouses, ships, and trains together, making it impossible to tell for sure where they originated. Other candy producers, such as Hershey's and Mars, belong to the World Cocoa Foundation, but as the Foundation grinds along trying to eradicate the worst forms of child labor, the root of the problem remains, and the producers continue to use and distribute slave-picked chocolate.
Fortunately for chocoholics, ethically produced chocolate is more and more widely available. A good alternative to the huge candy producers' questionable products is chocolate that is Fair Trade Certified. A Fair Trade certification means that purchasers of cocoa (as well as sugar, bananas, tea, coffee, cotton, and many other products) agree to pay at least a minimum set price to the farmers. This enables the farmers to live on the proceeds of their farms, pay their workers enough for the workers to live on, and allow their children to go to school. It also allows the communities to improve, funding hospitals and schools. It can effectively break the cycle of poverty. The cocoa purchasers can label their goods as "Fair Trade Certified," and consumers can enjoy chocolate that does not exploit workers and children. As demand grows, large candy producers are slowly investing more in Fair Trade cocoa. In the UK especially, consumer demand is driving some companies to serious, lasting change. In the meantime, you and I can stop contributing to a system that steals, kills, and destroys.
So that's the bad news. Ready for the good news? In the next post, we'll look at some alternative brands and places to buy ethically produced baking chocolate and candy.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
The good news is...
Welcome to Looking For Starfish's new blog! Thanks for checking it out, and more importantly, thank you for joining the fight against slavery. Let the people of God act for justice in His power! One of the most frustrating aspects of trying to live judiciously in our culture is that oppression seems to be involved in every purchase we make. It is so clear that our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, and powers over this present darkness, and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly places. But the good news is that Jesus has come to set the captives free! So we know that when we participate in bringing freedom, we are directly acting in His will, and He is delighted by our smallest efforts. Don't get discouraged, because He will win this fight. This blog will have to talk about some very tragic things periodically, but its primary purpose is to give positive alternatives and practical ways to walk in love and justice. Since Halloween is approaching, we'll discuss ethical chocolate and where to get good trick-or-treating candy in the next post. Come, Lord Jesus, and use us powerfully while we wait for you.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)