GOOD AND GHOULISH
SWEET COMPANIES
As New Zealand children embrace Halloween
more each year, thoughts turn to the children
in Western Africa who make the sweets in
often hazardous conditions.
Green economy organisation
Green America
says the rankings of
the world’s top lolly
and chocolate manufacturers
makes for grim reading.
This Halloween, much of the candy
that trick-or-treaters receive will
have been produced by their own
peers — child labourers working
halfway around the world. More
than two million children in Western
Africa work in often hazardous
conditions, growing the main ingredient
in chocolate…cocoa.
That is why Green America has
updated its Chocolate Scorecard,
which grades major candy companies
on social and environmental
practices, including certifications
for forced labour, child labour and
discrimination.
Only one ‘F’ has been assigned in
the scorecard, and that has gone to
Godiva. Other laggards include ‘D’
graded Ferrero and a ‘C-‘ to Mondelez
(maker of Cadbury products and
the more upscale Green and Black’s
chocolate bars). Six companies got
‘A’ grades: Alter Eco, Divine, Endangered
Species, Equal Exchange,
Shaman and Theo Chocolate.
“Every Halloween, there’s plenty
to be scared of in the candy
aisle,” Green America’s executive
co-director of consumer and
corporate engagement Todd Larsen
says. “That’s why Green America
provides the Chocolate Scorecard,
so consumers know which of their
favourite chocolate brands are
using ethically sourced, high-quality
ingredients.”
The Chocolate Scorecard identifies
ethically sourced, certified sweets.
It also helps consumers understand
what the major chocolate companies
are — and are not — doing to
combat child labour in their supply
chains.
It also identifies which companies
have employed innovative programmes
and projects
to address other underlying
issues of child
labour in cocoa-producing
countries. These
include child labour
monitoring and remediation
systems, which
work with communities
and families to address
why child labour is
happening on farms;
farmer income generating
programmes; and
traceability mechanisms
for fuller supply
chain transparency.
“Child labour is a global
problem, and there
is a cruel irony in the
fact that it is used to
produce candy for other
children,” Green America
social justice manager
Caroline Chen says.
“When shoppers hit
the stores to purchase
candy to hand out on
Halloween, they should
consider the other children
of the world that
are affected.”
The organisation also
produces the ABCs of
Food Labelling guide, which defines
common food labels and identifies
those that are authentic, those that
are mere marketing tricks and the
many than fall inbetween. Green
America is the nation’s leading
green economy organisation, founded
in 1982 and providing economic
strategies and practical tools for
businesses and individuals to solve
today’s social and environmental
problems.
The Green America Chocolate
Scorecard can be found here:
https://www.greenamerica.org/
end-child-labor-cocoa/chocolate
scorecard
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