 Chocolate is one of life's greatest pleasures, but for the children working in slavery conditions in cacao fields across West Africa's Ivory Coast, the reality behind it is anything but sweet. Some 70 to 75 percent of the world's cocoa beans are grown on small farms in West Africa, including the Ivory Coast, according to the World Cocoa Foundation and the International Cocoa Initiative. The CNN Freedom Project reports that in the Ivory Coast alone, there are an estimated 200,000 children working the fields, many against their will, to satisfy the world's hunger for chocolate. The average American eats around 11 pounds of chocolate each year, and the weeks leading up to Easter show the second biggest United States sales spike of the year next to Halloween - 71 million pounds according to a 2009 Neilsen report. A recent press release from Kraft claims that worldwide, more consumers purchase chocolate during Easter than any other season. So how does a chocolate lover ensure that the treats filling their family's Easter baskets are not supporting a life of slavery for a child half a world away? Gene Tanski, a supply chain expert and CEO of Demand Foresight says that the most basic way to ensure that you don't purchase chocolate that is made with slave labor is to insist on organic. "There are no organic growing techniques, capability, or much interest in West Africa or the Ivory Coast or Ghana. Most of the trees there were planted about 25 years ago and they're on the downside of their productive life," Tanski says. "If you're buying organic chocolate or cocoa you're nearly ensured that there is no slave labor involved in the growing or production of that chocolate, and you can track the chain." Consider the origin Tanski says to pay attention to where the chocolate is grown and produced. Because of measures like the Harkin-Engel Protocol or "Cocoa Protocol" which was enacted in 2001 to enlist companies to voluntarily certify they had stopped the practice of child labor, as well as some of the components of free trade, consumers are starting to be able to track where cocoa comes from. "If it comes from Africa, there is most likely slave labor involved. If it comes from South America or Asia, chances are that there is not. That's not to say there aren't poor conditions, but it's not the slave labor that's highlighted in the CNN report. The tracking is getting better and better all the time," he adds. Look at the label "You should be looking for chocolate that's a bargain for you, that's delicious for you, and that's good news for people who took part in the production," Stop the Traffik founder Steve Chalke tells CNN's Richard Quest. He says to look for a Fair Trade or Rainforest Alliance symbol on the packaging, because it shows that there was no slavery involved in the production of the bar. Later this year, chocolate consumers will be able to purchase a new version of Hershey's Bliss brand, which will be 100 percent made from Rainforest Alliance-certified farms mostly in Ivory Coast and Ghana, according to a press release from the company. "It'll still make you fat," Chalke jokes, "But you'll be ethically fat." Go straight to the source Kristen Hard, the owner of Cacao Atlanta, puts her money where her customers' mouths are and travels to farms in places like Brazil and Venezuela to deal directly with the growers. For her, it's a matter of quality control - both for her product and the lives of her producers. "Whatever you're purchasing is funding something; it's a choice that you're making every day," she says. "Buying fair trade can benefit the environment and the social status of the farmers. Or, you can do the opposite and promote child labor." While Hard believes that fair trade is better than the commodity system, with the recent rise in small-scale chocolate production, direct trade is a better solution, and pays off for customers in the form of a better product. She says, "We purchase beans from farmers at a much higher price than commodity, so they can value what they do, stay happy, and not just put food on the table. What we negotiate is quality and a schedule, and all of the things that should be important to a consumer." Develop a taste Hard knows that people form a passionate bond with the flavor of chocolate early in life, and it's most often the inexpensive and widely available kind. Still, she believes, people will be willing to pay more once they taste the difference. "Once they taste the quality product, they'll understand," she says. "A lot of times when people are farming a commodity, they'll cut corners because they want to make their money faster and it can can destroy the flavor. But, if this more premium chocolate is not what you're used to, the initial reaction can be, 'Oh, I don't like that.' It's like having fresh juice rather than sugar water. Whatever you grew up with programmed to like, your body is going to say, that's unfamiliar; I don't like it. Once you try it, you'll wonder where it's been your whole life." More resources for buying ethically produced chocolate Stop the Traffik The CNN Freedom Project sent correspondent David McKenzie into the heart of the Ivory Coast – the world’s largest cocoa producer – to investigate what's happening to children working in the fields. Watch an excerpt of "Chocolate's Child Slaves" and see all Freedom Project coverage on the topic. Once you've gotten the goods, try these delicious recipes from iReport's Fair Trade Chocolate Challenge Watch CNN Newsroom weekdays 9am to 3pm ET and weekends. For the latest from the CNN Newsroom click here.
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Hershey's is making a rainforest certified chocolate bar, but that's their premium, "bliss", brand. They are going to charge extra for the no-slave stuff, but don't worry, because we will still sell you the slave made stuff for cheap too.
Wow... i would give up ALL chocolate if it meant that this slavery stopped. :( i don't like the idea of others hurting for my pleasure.
Just buy a different brandof chocolate or eat a lot of peanut butter, like i do!
Honestly, their PAIN and SUFFERING makes MY chocolate taste MUCH SWEETER!!!
KUDOS TO FREE ENTERPRISE!!! Vote Romney if you agree!
Heya i am for the primary time here. I found this board and I to find It really helpful & it helped me out much. I hope to give something again and help others such as you aided me.
Not to mention how much chocolate raises our global ecological footprint! Check out my health and wellness blog @ http://www.wellnessnetworkblog.blogspot.com
Slavery chocolate tastes better.
You know what? It DOES taste better!!!
HURRAY FOR MIT ROMNEY AND FREE ENTERPRISE!!!!
I thing Foxconn should move some factories there and start making chocolate. This way I can get fat on the cheap and no one will pay any attention to the issue because NPR will run a bogus story from a non-journalist. Wait... we actually have journalists in this country? I thought only government memo reading shills were left.
What do we suppose would happen to these children should everyone quit buying their chocolate production. It would make us feel better knowing they lost employment? Or would they then be paid the same for other employment opportunity? Or with zero income might a few of them die of starvation? Well, we would all feel better and some may also lose a few pounds as well.
I understand your point, but if more of us supported chocolate produced without slave or unjust labor, the working conditions would change. I purchase all my chocolate from 10 thousand villages or other organizations that support fair wages for laborers. As the demand increases, the labor pool increases and people's quality of life improves. Yes, it is more expensive. But I just justify having my kid's sweet tooths satisfied at the expense of other children.
If you don't buy the chocolate, then these families lose wages, and we have price inflation on cocoa. Waste of time to buy "fair trade" chocolate, and you are only hurting the economic situation of these children.
eroteme, you make a good point. i read an interesting article a while ago about "child labor" in i believe it was Bangladesh. these kids would stay w. their mothers who worked in these clothing factories, the kids would fold the clothes or trim the thread fr hems and buttons...you get the idea. as they got older they would get coveted jobs in the factories. well-meaning westerners (inc i think a senator?) got wind of the "child labor" conditions and the factories were forced to get rid of the "child laborers" and, often, their moms, since there is no childcare there. these moms were then forced to work for far lower wages, some of them recycling lead-acid batteries, i think it was, and the kids ended up exposed to all that lead and other dangerous chemicals.
by boycotting these cocoa producers it does not necessarily mean these kids will then return to their loving families, go to school and get paying jobs. so where do they go? do they just end up on the streets or trafficked to an equally bad or worse situation?
If it's any consolation, there's barely any real chocolate in cheap "chocolate" anymore anyway.
I am all for ending child slavery in West Africa, but is 'buy Organic because growers in Africa can't or won't grow organic" really the best way to do it? Somewhere in West Africa, a non-organic grower who doesn't use child slaves is reading this thinking 'greeeaaaatttt....'
buy some of my slavery pancakes or my uncles, uncle bens, slavery rice...or my aunt Sylvia famous hot sauce.
I have no sympathy because the kids should just come to the USA illegally like evryone else does.
i for one would like to acknowledge that slave labor SHOULD BE BANISHED! I would hope that eating choclate could become a luxry item consumed by the general population at the hands of young children. For all the unnecessary rude and unethical commentaters on this blog with the hateful comments pray because that could be you in the shoes of that child.
We still don't care. Mmmmmmmmmm yummy chocolate. We'll take it wherever it comes from. We're the sheeple of America. Blame us for all the world's problems. Nom Nom...mmmmmmmmmm.
I luv chocolate. I eat it all the time.
It's all good and well to say that there shouldn't be any kind of slavery in the world. But there's something else to think about, and it doesn't matter whether it's chocolate, coffee, or diamonds. Yes, these people are working for slave wages, but it's better than NO wages and them starving to death. As to children working, well in a perfect world there would be no need for them to, but the last time I looked, the world was far from perfect. Children have worked alongside their parents for as long as man has been on this planet, and that's not going to change, no matter how "outraged" Americans are at the thought. Despite the fact they know nothing about how people in the third world live, and yet they feel they have to right to dictate how they should live.
And before people say I'm just another hack who likes to dump on everything, I do care what happens, but the truth is that nothing is going to change by people switching to organically grown coco beans except that the demand in Africa will go down and more people will starve to death. So think about that before you get up on your soapbox,
Yes, you have a point, but the solution is not to give up. The solution is that we buy chocolate from organic/fair trade growers, and capitalism forces the companies utilizing slave labor to turn to better practices, keeping the same employees but making their working conditions better and more ethical. It's good for everyone except the owners of the chocolate farms, who will hopefully still earn a profit(though a lesser one). What is wrong with this idea?
Great article!
Real proper chocolate – with plenty of cocoa in it is what I buy. Fair Trade is the only thing to go for too – otherwise you just don't know whether the company producing – employs kids who should be at school.
I work with factories in India – they make my handbag designs and I make sure that they only ever employ adults. I have seen kids working in factories in India (15 – 20 years ago) and I don't ever want to be part of that culture. Hopefully it has now stopped (by and large) in India and we need to hope it will stop in Africa too! Kids need education and they need to be kids!
Why is anyone shocked that Africans are enslaving other Africans for forced labor? They've been doing it for decades – even centuries. Enemy tribes and warlords conquering weaker tribes and selling them to the slave market. How do you think the entire world got their black slaves? They bought them from the slave trade markets that held people from every nation. Plus, if you think that only blacks and Africans were slaves you're a moron that needs to go read a history book.
doesn't matter what the label says...you really still won't know where the chocolate came from.
I may have come from a cocoa farm owned by Witney Houston...oh nevermind I think that was a coke farm.
I support Hershey PA – 1 bar every nite watching TV. To ask me to take on all this moral responsibility when all I do is eat a candy bar is unreasonable.
Yeah, take this "story" to a place where someone cares. Quit trying to lay all the guilt of the world on the American consumer. We don't make the laws for the governments of other countries. This crap gets old...I'm not listening.
That's because the USA is the largest consumer in the world! So don't ya think we would be a target on this issue? Idiot.
Real ladylike...lol. I still don't give flying turd. Mmmmmmmmmmm chocolate! Nom Nom!
NAME COMPANY NAMES NOW!!!
Name, names NOW
Need to know who these companies are!!
I am in a world where there are stores and rows of Chocolate on every corner!
Fact is whether Africa, Asia, South America, realistically there is child slavery worldwide. Another fact is most are slaves to chocolate, and to sin, amongst other things. This world is a very sick place to a poor child. A child shouldn't have to go through that, they are innocent of the desires of greed, gluttony, and perverted appetites.
. The only permanent solution is found at Revelation 11:18. There the Bible states that Jehovah will “bring to ruin those ruining the earth.” Jehovah will not only eliminate the mismanagement of the earth and its resources but also ensure that the earth will produce abundantly for all its inhabitants. All obstinate disregard for God’s purpose and all exploitation of the earth for selfish personal advantage will be put to a stop. On the other hand, those who willingly support Jehovah’s rulership will experience the reality of the words found at Psalm 72:16: “There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow.”
In his infinite love and wisdom, Jehovah has purposed that mankind will live in and care for their home—a paradise earth. (Genesis 1:28) Under his rulership, obedient mankind will learn to utilize natural resources wisely, without depleting earth’s abundant storehouse. How grateful we are for such a loving Provider, who will satisfy the desire of every living thing!—Psalm 145:16.
When should we be expecting this biblical justice to happen? And will it just be that passage, or will your god come murder all of the gays, atheists, and disobedient children as well?
Why is everyone worrying about avoiding slavery-free chocolate and getting organic stuff, when there are slaves working right now!! Do something about them! Lot of selfish American freaks talking about money, organics, a perfect chocolate-filled Easter! Think about the things that matter.
yeah....
Like I've heard this malarky a thousand times. The govt, the leadership, the party politics of whatever flavor they may be, manufacturers, managers, store owners, fathers, brothers – THEY ALL were treating the common working man like patooey BEFORE ever there was a global market.
Dump this bit of lie elsewhere. I'm tired of it, it is NOT the fault of the USA.
I agree with you completely. Why in the ever loving heck is the American consumer blamed for how every fricking commodity around the world is produced and distributed? We're blamed for how citizens of other countries are treated in their own country. Ridiculous! It's impossible to navigate the daily insurgence of bull dookie guilt that is put upon us. Listen up! America is not responsible for how other backwards ass countries choose to govern their own citizens. They make their own labor laws. We just buy the crap if it's on our grocery shelves. I'm not taking responsibility for how it got there. What a crock!
Way to @#$% on the one thing left in the universe that hasn't already been @#$% on, CNN. Thanks for that.
If every consumer in America does what you advocate for then every consumer in China, India and every other part of the developing world will get cheap chocolate. When the U.S. plays fair and everyone else doesn't it merely means we pay for or even subsidize their market freedoms. Just like gas, we are developing more energy efficient cars and taxing ourselves to death while India and China use even more gas causing prices worldwide to increase.
Not everyone lives a good life in the U.S. and wanting to play fair merely means that people in the U.S. barely making it now have to struggle even more. Wanting the world to be more fair, more equitable, more nice, more of everything demonstrates that most Americans are truly ignorant of how the world operates.
Well Dick, I tend to agree with you. When I eat chocolate or drink coffee I truly think it tastes better when picked by the poor. It's almost as if you can taste the bitterness of their miserable lives mixed in with it.
Well Mary Smith, I just wonder what kind of life you live. Appearently you are an idiot! But I guess being taken advantage of is something you are not use to. But then again someone could be pimping you out but we will never see that in cyber world. Thanks for keeping prostitution alive! Save your money you might need it someday.
I think your sarcasm-meter is off
What's with all this Fair Trade press, lately? Someone at CNN is really pushing it. You can't reasonably track anything with a Fair Trade logo on it, or an "organic" label. They've, in fact, done research into these products, and like 95% of all Fair Trade labeled products are either non-Fair Trade, or less than 50% from Fair Trade sources. And nearly 80% of all "certified organic" products are GMO (i.e. non-organic) and large numbers have traces of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. In short, you accomplish nothing by buying Fair Trade and Organic products, except donate money to unscrupulous businesses for the same products that everyone else charges less.
Bitter much Drowlord? Did your character get snickersnacked by a +5 vorpel blade? Seriously, what you are saying is that because the system isn't perfect then no one should care. We should remain complacent until we reach perfection and not make a move until then. Tell me, does that *really* make a lot of sense to you? Or are you going to rely on your statistics of unknown provenance (did you roll a couple of d10s?) in order to justify your own lack of concern. That's it isn't it? You don't really care and you are trying to justify it. Kinda lame. If you don't care just say you don't. Hiding behind dodgy statistics is just the cowards way out.
I'm not saying "the system isn't perfect." I'm saying the system doesn't work at all. It's a complete failure. As in "nothing but illusion." It's like a car with neither engine nor wheels - not really a car. I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't care. I'm saying that "organic" and "fair trade" are complete fiction. Spending money on these things solves nothing. It doesn't even begin to address anything. It's empty ideology. Buy Hawaiian chocolate if you want chocolate that's guaranteed not to use any slave labor and pay workers a fair price. But don't be duped by "organic" or "fair trade" products. That's just ignorant.
BUNNY 2012
I'm voting for BUNNY 2012!
Pardon me but should not the responsibility rest upon the actual chocolate producers?? Cadbury, Hershey, Mars, whomever...why isn't someone sending them a message??? Why aren't these billion dollar western companies doing something to end this travesty? Perhaps I missed something- but I didn't see them mentioned at all. I don't know the article seems more like an adverisment to purchase organic chocolate than to *actually* do something about ending child slavery.
So you don't believe consumers have any control over what gets produced around the globe. Myopic much?
And why would Hershey care if the consumer doesn't care? That's what this article is about – trying to get the consumer to care because the *consumer* is the one that ultimately decides on the fate of a company.
Actually its the janitor. If yo space aint clean yo get no more green.
In the US, our money often speaks louder than our words. Stop buying chocolate that is not fair trade, and if enough of us do it, Hershey and other big companies will be forced to listen.
Sadly, large companies only listen if you speak their language; profits (I do believe that individuals in large companies can still have values and integrity but this is not as common as it should be). If their consumers talk seriously and back it by not buying products they are unhappy with, they will change. One letter can represent a large number of consumers so if you feel strongly about something, sure write it here in this little comment window, but chase down a real address of a company you disagree with and send THEM a letter. Same goes for politics. Write you congressman/rep and let them know what is important to you.
I thought there had been a law passed regarding this, and only Lindt and Ghiradelli were abstaining, but I guess I was misinformed. We eat a little chocolate after dinner and I'm now switching.
Slavery is bad mmnkay ?
If we get back to the true meaning of Easter (i.e. the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ), we won't have to concern ourselves with slave chocolates.
If they didnt have children doing this harvesting we would just have more of them to shoot. At least they are doing something worthwhile, better than those in The US.
I hate slavery in any form. However, most of these children are helping support their families. If we all go organic we take away their livelihood and their support of their families. It's up to Hershey, Mars etc to insist on the changes, but their hunger for huge profits causes them to turn their backs on doing the right thing.
This CNN Eatocracy article; “The bitter truth behind the chocolate in your Easter basket” even though it mentions; “Some 70 to 75 percent of the world's cocoa beans are grown on small farms in West Africa, including the Ivory Coast” tends to lump all chocolate grown in the world all together with implied slavery of children.
It does a great disservice to the world’s best and most exquisite "single origin" chocolate grown exclusively on the North Shore of the Island of Oahu, Hawaii and other chocolate growers on the Big Island of Hawaii; the 50th state of the United States.
Child slavery should not be condoned anywhere in the world but proper reporting should also be at the forefront and not sensationalized to where it might injure your own country’s selling of goods, services and products.
CNN doesnt seem to have any ethical standards regarding their allegiance to the USA.
The article basically says that any chocolate NOT grown in Africa is slave-free. This is not an article that names every single place chocolate can be grown. The focus of the article is slave labor. If you want a focus on Hawaiian chocolate, write a press release and distribute it.
Here's the quote:
"If it comes from Africa, there is most likely slave labor involved. If it comes from South America or Asia, chances are that there is not. That's not to say there aren't poor conditions, but it's not the slave labor that's highlighted in the CNN report. The tracking is getting better and better all the time," he adds.
There is no need to write an article about Hawaii cacao as it has been grown in islands (only state in United States that can grow cacao) since 1850 when it was first planted. Hawaiian chocolate is well documented over the various decades by trade, candy, gourmet magazines and newspapers. Slavery of any kind has never been practiced in the history of the Hawaiian Islands (before and after admission into statehood).
Chocolate is like coffee, it is blended from different farms and tree species to develop a distinct flavor. So your child slavery African cacao can be mixed with South American cacao or Asia cacao to create Belgium chocolate or American Hershey’s chocolate. Cacao only grows in a narrow band around the equator and the 50th state Hawaii is on the fringe of that band being the most Southern state in the nation.
Chocolate from the Big Island of Hawaii is a blend of 30 cacao farms totally grown on that island. It is labeled “Artisanal Single-Origin Chocolate” and “Certified Made in the U.S.A.”
Chocolate from the North Shore of Oahu which has been internationally touted as the “Best Single-Origin” cacao in the world just simply labeled “Single-Origin” is only from one single estate and labeled “Product of USA”.
The CNN Eatocracy article mentioned Africa, South America and Asia as only sources of cacao and did not mention the U.S.A. as a source of cacao (poor research on their part) and in the article the quoted statement by " Stop the Traffik” founder Steve Chalke lumped all chocolate together if it did not have one of two distinct labels on the package you might purchase with the statement; "You should be looking for chocolate that's a bargain for you, that's delicious for you, and that's good news for people who took part in the production," Stop the Traffik founder Steve Chalke tells CNN's Richard Quest. He says to look for a Fair Trade or Rainforest Alliance symbol on the packaging, because it shows that there was no slavery involved in the production of the bar.”
Implied that if the chocolate does not have either one of mentioned labels it was made with child slavery labor!
So – essentially, the Three Musketeers are slave-masters ?? I always knew it .............. !!!!
Next we're gonna find out the elves are slaves, and Santa is the biggest slave-master of them all.
Gotta give credit to CNN – they want to take the joy out of everything.
Oh, you learned that reality is dark and sad and people are exploited and live harsh miserable, short lives? How positively AWFUL that must be for you.
There is a common thread on this board: The idea of being ethically responsible for your personal consumption decisions infuriates many conservatives and cynics.
Don't worry guys, those candy bars you stuff down your fat gullets don't even contain real chocolate anyways.
Just another attack against Christians. Now the PC police are telling us what to do about our Easter baskets.
Funny that this "issue" wasn't brought-up before Halloween, or Valentines Day – when tons of slave-made chocolates are bought.
But the chose to wait and make it an issue at Easter.
Your post show the world that even God can have a bad day, making the likes of you.
Devout daily-service attending Christian here... who has no clue what you're talking about. This has nothing to do with religion or Easter. Are you trying to scorn the "PC Police", i.e. the ethical people pointing out that supporting companies whose profits rely on slave labor is not okay? If so, that's about the least Christlike thing I've heard in a very long time.
What a load of Brown BS-Why is there no story on my Ladies popping out truck loads of colored eggs for all the Little Bratty rich American kids to find in their lawns and gardens? My Ladies are enslaved in cages not large enough to turn around in and work seven days a week. This is a disgrace.
Dennis, This article is not about religion, it's about children being abused and exploited. Stay with the class!
Dennis, CNN has been running articles about "ethical chocolate" for like a year. All they did is patch together the old article and slap Easter in it a few times.
How do you know its not attacking Pagans? Easter means "Eostre" who is the Teutonic Goddess of Fertility and Dawn after all. All those rabbits are symbols of her, and eggs are an ancient symbol of fertility.
Really, though, Dennis your post is silly. I've saw an article on ethical chocolate around Valentines this year.
You do know there is absolutely no independent archeological evidence for the Oestre origins of Easter, right? There is a two line mention of it in there writings of the Venerable Bede and nothing else. Nothing. There are *no* other writings about it – which seems strange if her cult was so influential. There is no hard evidence either. No cultic images. No worship sites. Nothing. Heck, even other pagans think the whole thing is rubbish – google "adrian bott easter" and read what he has to say – Andrian Bott is a well known pagan author and researcher. Please do a little research – if this sort of thing means anything to you then you have an obligation to yourself to know the real information.
So how are you to know if the person who helped make the chocolate is forced to pay alimony? It seems impossible to stop slavery chocolate purchases if you don't end alimony.
We stop buying their products. They starve. No more slavery. Problem solved.
Impossible! Actually we end slavery, then taxpayers support them while they sit on their brains. Just like they do here. If a liberal feels good about something, its going to cost the rest of us!!!!!