The word ‘slave’ conjures up shocking images of people working for nothing. But in fact, that’s what happens in some parts of the world. Fair Trade chocolate is popular, but around 30,000 people still make chocolate for the western consumer, for little or no pay at all (many of them children). This post looks at the issues behind it, and how to ensure that when you buy your favourite vegan chocolate bar, you are not accidentally contributing to this awful trade.
Keep chocolate away from pets (including white chocolate, also toxic as it’s high in fat). Never eat chocolate sweetened with xylitol near pets, as a few dropped crumbs are lethal (also dried fruits and nuts should be kept away). If ordering online, use a letterbox guard for safety.
Chocolate is one of the world’s most popular snacks. In nature, it’s actually very bitter (the sugar is added afterwards). Cocoa beans only grow in hot countries, which also happens to be some of the poorest areas on earth. Most chocolate sold in the west comes from Ghana and the Ivory Coast, where the average cocoa farmer earns less than is needed, to support a family. For that reason, many children work in illegal conditions, to bring home enough money to survive. Yet many of this cocoa is sold to big companies that in turn sell it to the major chocolate bar manufacturers, who don’t really know where their beans are sourced from. All earn millions of dollars in profits.
The best way to help, is to simply buy from companies that either buy the cocoa beans direct from the farmers, or buy from wholesalers that are certified Fair Trade (there are a few confusing labels, but it’s not hard to figure out which ones care). If you buy from the big companies that buy from big wholesalers, things get icky. When the market price of cocoa dropped recently, the farmers were negatively impacted, but good chocolate companies will know this, as they have traceable beans, and know the farmers, who get a fair deal.
Tony’s Chocolonely is one of the new brands of slave-free chocolate. It does sell milk chocolate, but the link goes just to their vegan bars (dark or dark almond sea salt). Founded by a Dutch journalist who decided to investigate the issue of slavery in chocolate – when the industry ignored his requests for information, he set up his own chocolate brand instead. It’s become a worldwide sensation (so buy the vegan bars to encourage), and his bars are helping to bring the issue to media attention. Former child slaves are actually taking three big chocolate companies to court.
Tony’s Chocolonely Dark Almond Sea Salt is sold in plastic-free packaging, made with Belgian fair trade dark chocolate, with good profits to the cocoa farmers.
Tony’s chocolate company employs almost 9000 farmers who all earn a living income and earn enough for their whole family. The cocoa is bought per season and they also get a premium on top, plus agricultural training courses, and nurseries for new cocoa trees. More than 9.2% of the retail price goes to the cocoa farmers. Most cocoa farmers get from 3% to 6%. He recently launched 4 ‘lookalike’ bars to highlight the issues (with profits going to support women escaping from slavery). They were only on our supermarket shelves for one day, before they mysteriously disappeared.
According to Food Empowerment Project, children as young as 5 work on the farms, rising at 6 to begin work. Some children are asked to use chainsaws to clear forests, others use machetes and climb high trees, which violates international labour laws. They then have to drag the cocoa beans back through the forest. One former cocoa slave wrote ‘Some of the bags were taller than me. It took two people to put the bag on my head. And when you didn’t hurry, you were beaten’. Nearly all the children working as cocoa slaves have scars from machete injuries. They also are asked to work with agricultural chemicals, a hazard to their health. When at rest, they eat corn paste and bananas, and sleep on wooden planks, with no windows, clean water or bathrooms.
What You Can Do To End Slavery Chocolate
Boycott the big brands, as they don’t usually have provenance (knowing and tracing the cacao back to the farm where it was grown and harvested). Choose instead small-scale ethical chocolate makers, who know where their beans come from, and how the farmers are treated.
Visit Slave Free Chocolate to learn more and take action. From letter-writing campaigns to big chocolate companies and informing your local grocer of your concerns, to ordering sets of 100 postcards to use for school projects, churches, community bulletin boards etc, everyone can make a difference. The site also has a list of ethically-sourced chocolate companies (although you guessed it, it doesn’t filter out non-vegan brands, so you’ll have to surf and find!)
It’s worth noting that all the Fair Trade foundations do not recommend supporting the big brands (Mars, Nestle etc). So although say Galaxy has brought out a palm-oil-free vegan bar of chocolate, there’s no guarantee that the farmers growing the cocoa are well-treated. And the vegan lifestyle is about compassion to all creatures – and that includes humans.
Chocolate wrapping has in the past been difficult to recycle, due to being tainted by cardboard etc. However, the new eucalyptus compostable packaging has its issues too, as it’s been found that these trees are highly flammable. Grown in huge numbers, they are contributing to forest fires, which harm wildlife. So try to find chocolate wrapped in easy-to-recycle packaging for now, and don’t worry too much about compostable wrap.
Chocolate and Love was founded by a Scot and Dane, and uses the finest ingredients. Made in Switzerland, this ethically sourced dark chocolate is organic with the cacao bought from small family farms in Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Madagascar. This Vegan Selection Box includes:
- Coffee
- Orange
- Mint
- Pomegranate
- Rich Dark
- Panama
Land Chocolate makes award-winning chocolate in the heart of Hackney in London. The founder asks ‘how much of the 60p from a chocolate bar goes back to the farmer?’ They offer more to farmers, and the vegan range incudes malt dark chocolate and Venezuelan oat milk chocolate.
Seed and Bean pays above market price to farmers, offering fair trade chocolate, made in small batches. The vegan range includes salted caramel, mint, mandarin & ginger, chilli & lime, lavender, coconut raspberry, Cornish sea salt, Espresso, Sicilian hazelnut, lemon & cardamom, sweet orange & thyme and spiced ginger.
Cocoa Social Enterprise offers a vegan chocolate hazelnut spread and cocoa teas, all supporting the cocoa farmers. The cocoa is bought direct from farmers in Nigeria, Ecuador and Peru at a premium fair price from the farmers, while supporting the farmers’ children in their education. This community interest company makes the chocolate from scratch.
