When I think about indulging in dessert, I cannot help but crave chocolate. This is, admittedly, one of the guilty pleasures that I enjoy on a weekly basis — or daily, if it’s a really stressful week. Sure, I will enjoy a bag of chips or candy every once in a while, but I would give it all up to continue my love affair with chocolate.
When I decided to ditch dairy a few years ago, I knew that I would be sacrificing the many brands that I once enjoyed. Nestle, Cadbury, and Hershey were all convenient, cheap, and delicious choices for me to stock my pantry with. I didn’t consider how or where the chocolate came from because it was too damn delicious for me to even think about how sustainable one little chocolate bar was. And I’m sure, reading this now, many of you feel the same way.
Admittedly, I had convinced myself that by switching to dairy-free chocolate I was doing my part in making “smarter” and more sustainable dessert decisions. I knew that the dairy industry was responsible for some serious environmental issues, but I didn’t consider the sustainability of the cocoa industry as well. So while it’s great that more mainstream companies like Lindt are producing vegan-friendly products, from a sustainability and ethical stance this just isn’t enough.
I recently stumbled across the “2022 Chocolate Scorecard,” and let me tell you, I was quite overwhelmed. It is produced annually in collaboration with Be Slavery Free, an organization that is “seeking to solve this global problem [of slavery] by preventing it from occurring in the first place.” The organization, along with its research partners, comprises a list of major chocolate brands and ranks their sustainability efforts based on the company’s traceability and transparency, living income for workers, use of child labour, connections to deforestation and climate, agroforestry, and agrichemical management. What this survey tells us is that many of the popular brands we see on the shelves today are facing some serious sustainability challenges, along with human rights violations.
Apart from the environmental issues that the industry plays a role in, human rights issues are also heavily linked to some of the world’s top cocoa-producing countries. Cocoa farms are most prominent in West African countries, such as Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, and produce millions of tons of cocoa each year to be shipped to major chocolate companies worldwide. These particular farms are responsible for cultivating 70 per cent of the world’s chocolate, yet the laborers are treated incredibly unfairly, unsustainably, and inhumanely.
For decades, organizations have been working tirelessly to expose the realities of these farms and their use of child labourers. Currently, there are 1.56 million children being used as labourers in the cocoa industry, and this is after years of fighting for more ethical labor standards. The process of cultivating cocoa involves a great deal of intensive and dangerous manual labour that is not suited for anyone, but especially not a child. Children as young as five years old are expected to clear forests with chainsaws and pry open cocoa pods with knives and machetes. Many are expected to navigate their way through forests while carrying 100-pound sacks of cocoa beans on their heads.
Organizations such as Be Slavery Free bring forward calls of action to the chocolate companies that support these farming practices. While the “Chocolate Scoreboard” shows some progression in these labor issues within major companies, there are far too many companies that still fail to revise their business practices.
Although I encourage each of you to read through the “Chocolate Scoreboard,” there are other tools that we can use in the store when deciding what chocolate bar we will choose to purchase. Ethically sourced chocolate will be marked with a Fair Trade certification which ensures that the chocolate companies meet a certain ethical standard.
While many of these brands are usually more expensive than a typical Mars bar, I believe if you choose to support the cocoa industry at all, then we must make sure we are supporting the companies that are adhering to these ethical standards that pay fair incomes and do not use child laborers. My personal favourites are Alter Ego and Zazubean — both Fair Trade certified chocolate brands. While the major companies are responsible for changing their business models, a shift in consumer demands has the potential to aid in swaying a company’s decision. When it comes to chocolate, it’s important to consider the brands you support and spend your money accordingly.
Sydney is a BA English major, creative writing student, who has been a content contributor for The Cascade and is now the Opinion editor. In 7th grade, she won $100 in a writing contest but hasn’t made an earning from writing since. In the meantime, she is hoping that her half-written novels will write themselves, be published, and help pay the bills.