Well-made chocolate, whether milk, dark or in some form of confection, should be one of the most straight-forward pleasures of life. That delight is diminished by the realities hiding behind some of the world’s most popular and accessible brightly wrapped treats. Child labor and irresponsible farming practices are rife in an industry nominally made for children to enjoy the sweeter side of life.
Child welfare advocates like International Rights Advocates (IRA) say that an alarming amount of chocolate available in the U.S. was made with child labor. After Hershey, Nestle and Cargill won a dismissal of the suit brought by eight citizens of Mali who sought to hold the companies liable for child slavery on Ivory Coast farms, the IRA filed a federal lawsuit asking a judge to force the Biden administration to block imports of cocoa harvested by children in West Africa. About 70 percent of the world’s cocoa supply is grown in West Africa.
The organization filed the suit claiming that U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security have ignored evidence of children at work on cocoa farms. Child labor is an acknowledged issue in the industry.
One study commissioned by the U.S. government and completed by the University of Chicago found that more than 790,000 children were working on cocoa plantations on the Ivory Coast.
Most large scale chocolate companies (including the ones named in the suit) promised to stop relying on child labor by 2005; since then, they claimed they would put a halt to the most egregious forms by 2025.
And unethical labor practices aren’t the only dirty secret your favorite chocolate treats may be harboring. The Ivory Coast and Ghana have lost 94 percent and 80 percent of their forested land, respectively, with at least one-third of that being blamed on the expansion of cocoa production.
“Poverty is driving both child labor issues and irresponsible farming,” says Kerry Daroci, cocoa lead at the Rainforest Alliance, a nongovernmental organization advancing sustainability in food and agriculture. “So much of the world’s chocolate comes from Ghana and the Ivory Coast, and smallholder family farmers bear the brunt of price fluctuations while having very little power and no safety net.”
The climate crisis, which Daroci says is increasing the incidence of pests in diseases on cocoa farms, is negatively affecting harvests, which causes many of these smaller farmers into the forests seeking new land for cocoa cultivation.
For those who love human rights and the environment just as much as they love their squares of chocolate bliss, there are some more ethical options on the market to try.
Divine Chocolate: Global Ethical Chocolate Pioneers
UK-based Divine Chocolate was one of the pioneers of the mission-driven ethical chocolate movement. Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, Divine Chocolate is a farmer-owned, B Corp and Fair Trade-certified maker of chocolate that feels as good to eat as it tastes. (And it is available across the world in specialty markets and large-scale chains like Whole Foods.)
Troy Pearly, executive vice president and general manager of Divine Chocolate North America, explains that cocoa farmers in Kuapa Kokoo, Ghana, founded the company in 1998 in a bid to ensure “clear labor practices, protect the rights of tenant farmers and empower women to participate fully in the cooperative and be more involved in their communities.”
Because Divine Chocolate is run by farmers, not a corporate group or shareholders, “ethical chocolate production is our business plan,” Pearly explains. “We want to ensure that farmers are earning enough to support themselves, and we want younger people to see cocoa farming as a desired career path.”
Divine Chocolate is made with Fair Trade sugar and single-origin cocoa beans grown by family farmers. The chocolate bars never contain palm oil, soy or GMOs. The company also pours money back into its communities, supports adult literacy and numeracy programs and invests tens of thousands of dollars in agroforestry systems that include cocoa trees alongside staples like yams, maize and cassava.
Today, 100,000 smallholder cocoa farmers work in 57 cooperative societies spanning 71 districts in Ghana for Divine Chocolate.
Responsible Chocolate in Action: Saint Lucia
The majority of the world’s chocolate is made in Ghana and the Ivory Coast—but not all of it! There is a thriving industry on the island of Saint Lucia, an Eastern Caribbean gem brimming with lush green rainforests, where cacao trees have thrived since the 1700s.
It was only recently, however. that the chocolate-making industry was revived after centuries when it played second fiddle to bananas. Today, the island has become one of the global hotspots for beach lovers, rainforest nuts… and ethically minded chocophiles.
British entrepreneurs saw the opportunity and opened Rabot Hotel from Hotel Chocolat on a 250-year-old Saint Lucian cacao plantation, with the goal of creating a holistic mini cocoa empire that supports and feeds the local population and attracts throngs of eco-tourists.
Even the meals are infused with cacao pulp, nibs and melted chocolate. (Think pan-fried scallops with cacao-citrus dressing, cacao-braised pork tenderloin, cacao bellinis and rum baba and cacao whipped cream.)
More importantly, it’s one of the few chocolatiers that grows its own cacao on-site. The plantation is set on a farm in the middle of the rainforest, overlooking a UNESCO world heritage site, with views of Petit Piton Mountains.
Visitors are able to follow beans from seedling to chocolate, tasting cacao pulp cut fresh from the pod right in the organically farmed cacao grove where it’s grown, then tasting micro-batch chocolate made in situ. To encourage the health of the forest, visitors will also see mangos, coconuts, citrus and other trees growing in the rainforest.
“One taste of chocolate can provide so much happiness,” says Emma Peacock, CEO of Hotel Chocolat Saint Lucia. “But the process of growing cacao to deliver that happiness is often not good for nature or farmers. We believe in working with farmers to develop a better way, helping both nature and farmers to thrive.”
Their “gentle farming” technique is designed to deliver long-term positive environmental and social impacts, Peacock says.
The gentle farming program, launched in 2021, guarantees growing partners a certified living income if sustainability and ethical labor standards are met.
While St. Lucia is now only the 66th largest exporter of cocoa beans in the world, the industry is essential to the country’s economic health, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
In addition to resorts created around ethical chocolate production, St. Lucia’s businesses offer a menu of chocolate-themed indulgences, from spa treatments, to chocolate trails, to sweet and savory chocolate creations.
Centuries ago, Mayans honored the cacao bean, seeing it as a gift from the gods. It was farmed, and its farmers were treated, accordingly. Perhaps we all need to revisit the historic roots of cacao, stop seeing it as a commodity and start seeing it as the sweet and complex gift it is.
How to Choose Responsible Chocolate
It’s not as hard as it may seem. First, look for certifications.
The Rainforest Alliance’s “little green frog” third-party certified seal, which can be found on more than 54,000 consumer products, signifies that one or more key ingredients are produced with social, economic and environmental sustainability in mind. Members of the Rainforest Alliance are also tasked with training farmers to steward their land sustainably amid disease and pest pressure.
The Fair Trade certification ensures third-party audits for farms producing cocoa. These audits include monitoring labor practices, ensuring stable prices, anti-child labor rules and pesticide guidelines. Fair Trade cocoa also ensures a premium is paid per ton, which is sent back to the farming cooperative that grew the cocoa so it can be invested in their communities.
B Corp certification gives companies with its logo the green light on their treatment of land and the people who work it. The third-party certified organization rates the company on how they do everything from treat their employees to recycle their trash.
When in doubt, check the Chocolate Scorecard, which rigorously documents chocolate producers large, medium and small and informs consumers of the good, bad and the ugly ingredients in your bar before purchase.