I should’ve asked this earlier before I did the chocolate buying but as the title says, any options for chocolate not made by slave labor?
Small grower-manufacturers that make bean to bar chocolate. Also has the advantage of higher quality chocolate that keeps the natural cocoa butter instead of adding milk.
Unfortunately, according to the John Oliver segment on chocolate, it is almost impossible to guarantee that the chocolate you buy does not use slave labor in the process. Even the most ethical of companies get lied to.
Tony Chocoloney!
Literally the only one to my knowledge that actually goes out to ensure they’re not just being lied to. They are also open about the fact that even though they do their best, they can’t absolutely guarantee they’re 100% slave free.
Orgs like “fair trade” for example just take the word of producers. It’s happened that a tv crew went out to visit one of their farms only to find child slaves at work.
I love their dark chocolate and almond bar. It’s so good.
It’s good, too. And you feel like you’re opening a Wonka bar. The packaging is nice.
Got a favourite?
I ordered one of the Rainbow Tasting Packs awhile back and remember liking all of them, but I tend to prefer additional things in mine (e.g. nougat, caramel, etc.), so I liked those.
nice, those are great
Look for this fairtrade logo
Hard agree. Any statements about working conditions a company makes needs third party verification. Last time I checked, the Fair Trade peeps were the most reputable verifiers.
I’m interested in everyone’s risk of slavery to acceptable to purchase ratio
Do you eat bananas?
No
Also, I don’t think it’s a ratio issue. It’s about making choices. Giving up chocolate is not all that hard to do. Being able to find affordable shoes that fit which were not made in Asian sweatshops is a lot harder.
Okay so for you chocolate isnt worth giving up slavery for but shoes are. Pretty reasonable imo. Def more conscientious than me
I try to be as ethical a consumer I can be, which is not especially ethical when you’re poor. It would be nice to have the money to buy clothing made in a country less likely to be using slave labor, but it’s usually more expensive and I can’t come up with over $100 to buy shoes when the toe on my shoe breaks or the heel comes off.
With chocolate, I just have to not buy it and the only way my life is affected is the disappointment of not eating chocolate.
Good for you. They’re disgusting.
I’m not taking this banana slander they actually goated fruit
The only mass production ethical chocolate I trust is Tony’s Chocolonely, because they’re the most transparent about how they source their chocolate, acknowledge that they can never be perfect in their goal, and actively try to improve conditions for workers that grow cocoa. I will also buy local artisan chocolate while traveling.
Basically, I’ve decided that chocolate isn’t worth the neo-imperialism and slave labor.
In similarity to coffee: Consider very small producers. The problem with coffe and chocolate is that the real taste only results from the last production steps (after fermentation and roasting). That means that companies that buy from many small farms (sometimes hundreds) have no clue which farm did it the best and thus the farmers also don’t know it.
But because only the farmers have a really strong influence on the quality of the chocolate they need to know if what they did was right.
Now a small company might have their own farms or work with very few suppliers they can give feedback about the quality. The farmers can produce better raw chocolate beans and the chocolate tastes best.
Also because the farmers learn their worth we westeners can’t exploit them so nicely and we avoid slavery.
Today I went to Trader Joes and got their in store brand Chocolate Minis. The ones I got were $2 a pack and didn’t say fair trade on them but slightly more expensive. The ones to the left said organic and fair trade so I don’t know where the cheaper one is sourced from.
For personal consumption, I’ve been eating Aldi chocolate which has some fancy name and it’s fair trade and ethically sourced.
I’ve heard Sprouts has good options but anecdotally I hear it sucks in comparison to Aldi’s.
I know Whole Foods is an option but I’m not supporting bezos
Never personally had the pleasure of purchasing it, but I understand Tony’s Chocolonely is often considered the go-to for affordable and ethically sourced chocolate. It’s obviously still more expensive than what you’ll find at the grocery store, but, you know, slavery.
