Thanks for this Liam - this has really given me things to think about. A pledge to make chocolate ‘without any of *the worst forms* of child labour’ seem a really, pathetically low bar.
Thanks Jennie. I know, it’s pretty depressing. Tough to find anything to be optimistic about on this one but I am hoping that at least awareness of the issue can continue to spread!
Thanks for the feedback, Karen! Just thinking about labels and certifications, if they’re going to be part of the solution I expect the potential for food fraud will be extremely heightened…
Agree! There is so much vulnerability in fair trade claims... the farmers can lie about their practices, the commodity buyers can lie about which farms they buy from, the certification owners can operate in a misleading manner, fair trade auditors and inspectors can act corruptly.
Then further along the supply chain, the cocoa traders and actual chocolate brands can make incorrect claims about their supply chains too.
Sadly, as you touched on, almost all the cocoa fair trade schemes rely very heavily on "self assessments" by farmers. That is, no one from the certifiers actually eyeballs any of the growing or processing operations. It's pretty bad!
Thanks Mr Liam. Another aspect is the science approach to recreate something similar to the cacao compound using more sustainable ingredients. They are getting close with a combination of barley, carrots and others. Though pricing will be premium, it’s an interesting one.
Awesome. Hadn't seen this. This seems like an interesting idea, have signed up for the wait list! Carrots in dessert though.... surely that will never take off
Thanks for this Liam - this has really given me things to think about. A pledge to make chocolate ‘without any of *the worst forms* of child labour’ seem a really, pathetically low bar.
Thanks Jennie. I know, it’s pretty depressing. Tough to find anything to be optimistic about on this one but I am hoping that at least awareness of the issue can continue to spread!
Brilliant work, Liam, I think this is my favourite post of yours so far. (I'm now thinking I should rethink my favourite brands too)
Thanks for the feedback, Karen! Just thinking about labels and certifications, if they’re going to be part of the solution I expect the potential for food fraud will be extremely heightened…
Agree! There is so much vulnerability in fair trade claims... the farmers can lie about their practices, the commodity buyers can lie about which farms they buy from, the certification owners can operate in a misleading manner, fair trade auditors and inspectors can act corruptly.
Then further along the supply chain, the cocoa traders and actual chocolate brands can make incorrect claims about their supply chains too.
Sadly, as you touched on, almost all the cocoa fair trade schemes rely very heavily on "self assessments" by farmers. That is, no one from the certifiers actually eyeballs any of the growing or processing operations. It's pretty bad!
Thanks Mr Liam. Another aspect is the science approach to recreate something similar to the cacao compound using more sustainable ingredients. They are getting close with a combination of barley, carrots and others. Though pricing will be premium, it’s an interesting one.
Watch out for ‘Alt-choc’ coming to a store near you. https://www.wnwnfoodlabs.com/
Awesome. Hadn't seen this. This seems like an interesting idea, have signed up for the wait list! Carrots in dessert though.... surely that will never take off
Thanks for researching this Liam! 👍🏼
And thank you for reading Annabel! 🙏🏼