Question: I always seek out only fair trade chocolate. I always avoided Nestle and Hershey, but recently heard on a radio segment that Nestle had done a lot to ensure their chocolate was not coming from unethical sources. Your site, however, suggests nothing much has changed. Is Nestle doing any better? Or should I return to my chocolate chip-less ways?
SFC’s Answer: Thank you for writing in. Do you remember where you heard that radio segment? If so, pass it on. I may be able to hear an archive of it. But to answer your question, Nestle is lying. Sure they have made some paltry initiatives so that they can take a photo of some kids in front of a single school they may have built but only to dupe consumers.
There are really only about 6 companies that purchase the 60% of cocoa tied to child labor and slavery and Nestlè, as well as Hershey, are right there. They all say that they are doing their part in ensuring that their cocoa is traceable. If that were the case then the numbers (of children at risk) by the US Dept. of Labor would be going down and not up.
These farmers that are at the end of the supply line about 800,000 of them have tiny plots of land (about 4 hectares). They are deep in the bush where there is no electricity, schools or access to medical care. They don' thave cars either. They harvest their beans and put them on a road and a middle man hands them some cash. They make about .50 cents a day which is 2/3 below the poverty line. If they don't have enough of their own children, they may resort to buying some, under a tree in a makeshift auction.
Additionally, without infrastructure farmers are practicing poor farming techniques. Where a cocoa tree should last a good 40 years, these are lasting about 3 to 4. So these farmers are going into protected forests and deforesting the native trees with Round-up. I am sure they use this on more legit farms but are absolutely soaking the ground with this so that they can plant more cocoa trees. If you go to our FB page and scroll down you will see a video from a French reporter. You don't need to speak French to understand it. https://www.facebook.com/Slave-Free-Chocolate-185449184662/?ref=bookmarks
I think you can find Fair Trade chocolate chips online. I believe Equal Exchange makes them!
Thanks for writing in and caring about this issue.