World Chocolate Day 2021
It's World Chocolate Day.
We always say, chocolate is one thing that we eat so much of and know so little about. Last year we wanted to highlight some of the nasty things that are going on within the chocolate supply chain, child and slave labour.
So, we're here today to tell you more because it hasn't gotten better! Let’s start with some mind-blowing stuff which has left me questioning a hell of a lot.
A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court in the USA threw out a case that was brought by former child slaves who say they were trafficked from Mali to Ivory Coast and forced to work on a rural cocoa farm. On this farm they were working in hazardous conditions and some were subject to and saw a lot of abuse when deemed to be working too slow or trying to run away. The farm supplied two giants in Big Chocolate. Nestle and Cargill. Nestle, you will know as one of the biggest chocolate producers in the world and Cargill you may not know but they are one of the biggest, if not the biggest cocoa buyer in the world, so it is likely that you will have eaten chocolate made with these beans. Both these companies have headquarters in the USA hence they are at the centre of this case but they are not alone worldwide. It was thrown out or at least they say they could not take it further.... And you need to be sitting down when you read this next bit. Because essentially these companies argued that they were not responsible for the trafficking and under a specific torte in the law, should not be held accountable. They said they did not do the trafficking, sell the children or own the farm that accepted the children. The audacity that they could argue that they, who have such a massive influence in the supply chain could not acknowledge the toxic ecosystem they’ve created that causes the conditions for this to happen starting with not paying farmers a living income. It's no secret that there is a major problem with child and slave labour in the cocoa supply chain. The problem comes when these big giants decide that they can just talk about eradicating it rather than doing anything about it. Back in 2001 Big Chocolate signed a voluntary, non-binding agreement to eliminate child labour in cocoa harvesting in West Africa by 2008 and since then has failed to tackle this and have constantly moved the goal posts. We're now on 2025 as the date that they say they will remove the worst forms of child labour in the supply chain. The idea that they are just looking at the worst forms is wild in itself.
As a small business we know how difficult it is to get people to understand that we're sustainable, ethical and our principles are rooted in change, doing chocolate differently, but we won’t stop being the change we want to see. The problem we are seeing is now we have companies that will tell you they are actively tackling child labour yet will have their chocolate manufactured by Big Chocolate who have profit from the very thing they are tackling. Again…Wild
We say, demand more from our chocolate and you will hear me banging on about having a chocolate revolution. I honestly believe that we will have this once we are asking our bakers, chefs and other end users of chocolate; what chocolate are you using? This is important.
