But even though Americans consume 2.8 billion pounds of delicious instant chocolate each year, the supply purchased by the food service industry is equally huge, and the cocoa farmers should be rewarded, there is a dark side to this consumption. The family-run farms on which the industry relies are not happy. Cocoa farmers are paid as little as possible, forced to live below the poverty line, and abuses continue through the participation of child labor. With the collapse of the huge inequality in the chocolate industry, products that are usually pleasing now leave a bad taste in the mouth. This is affecting food service because chefs and others in the industry are faced with the choice between sustainability and increasing wholesale prices.
Over the years, the fan base of dark chocolate in the United States has continued to grow-and for good reason. It is unbelievable and good for your health. For centuries, cocoa was used alone for medical purposes, and facts have proved that the ancients were correct. Dark chocolate contains flavanols and magnesium, which are two basic nutrients that are good for the heart and brain. Although it has a positive effect on those who consume it, those who grow cocoa beans are suffering severe heartache due to the inhumanely low prices of cocoa bean products. The average annual income of a cocoa farmer is about US$1,400 to US$2,000, which makes their daily budget less than US$1. According to the Manchester Media Group, many farmers have no choice but to live in poverty because of the uneven distribution of profits. The good news is that some brands are working hard to improve the industry. This includes Tony’s Chocolonely from the Netherlands, which respects cocoa growers in providing fair compensation. Endangered species brands and equal exchanges are also doing this, so the future of the chocolate industry is full of hope.
Due to the low prices paid by large companies to farmers, illegal child labor now exists in cocoa-producing areas in West Africa. In fact, 2.1 million children are employed on farms because their parents or grandparents can no longer afford to hire workers. According to several reports, these children are now out of school, adding to the burden on the chocolate industry. Only 10% of the industry’s total profits go to farms, which makes it impossible for these family businesses to legalize their labor and lift them out of poverty. To make matters worse, an estimated 30,000 child laborers in the West African cocoa industry were trafficked into slavery.
Farmers use child labor to maintain price competitiveness, even if it does not benefit themselves. Although the farm is at fault in continuing this practice due to the lack of alternative jobs and possible lack of education, the biggest driver of child labor is still in the hands of the companies that buy cocoa. The West African government to which these farms belong is also responsible for getting things right, but they also insist on the contribution of the local cocoa farms, which makes it difficult to completely stop child labor in the area.
It is worth noting that various departments need to work together to prevent child labor in cocoa farms, but a large-scale transformation can only occur if the company that buys cocoa offers better prices. It is also disturbing that the output value of the chocolate industry reaches billions of dollars, and by 2026, the global market is expected to reach 171.6 billion dollars. This prediction alone can tell the whole story—compared to food, compared to food service and retail markets, companies sell chocolate at higher prices and how much they pay for the raw materials used. Processing is of course considered in the analysis, but even if processing is included, the low prices that farmers must face are unreasonable. It is not surprising that the price of chocolate paid by the end user has not changed much, because the farm bears a large burden.
Nestlé is a huge chocolate supplier. Due to child labor in West Africa, Nestlé has become more and more smelly in the past few years. A report in the Washington Post stated that Nestlé, together with Mars and Hershey, pledged to stop using cocoa collected by child labor 20 years ago, but their efforts did not solve this problem. It is committed to stopping and preventing child labor through its comprehensive child labor monitoring system. Currently, its surveillance system has been established in more than 1,750 communities in Côte d’Ivoire. The plan was later implemented in Ghana. Nestlé also launched the Cocoa Project in 2009 to improve the lives of farmers and help children and their families. The company said on the website of its US branch that the brand has zero tolerance for trafficking and slavery. The company admits that although there is more to do.
Lindt, one of the largest chocolate wholesalers, has been solving this problem through its sustainable cocoa program, which is generally beneficial to the food service industry because they no longer have to worry about the usual problems with this ingredient. . It can be said that obtaining supply from Lint is a good way to build a more sustainable supply chain. The Swiss chocolate company recently invested $14 million to ensure that its chocolate supply is fully traceable and verifiable.
Although some control of the industry is exercised through the efforts of the World Cocoa Foundation, American Fair Trade, UTZ and the Tropical Rainforest Alliance, and the International Fair Trade Organization, Lint hopes to have complete control over their own production chain to ensure all their supply All are sustainable and fair. Lindt launched his agricultural program in Ghana in 2008 and later expanded the program to Ecuador and Madagascar. According to Lindt’s report, a total of 3,000 farmers have benefited from the Ecuadorian initiative. The same report also stated that the program successfully trained 56,000 farmers through Source Trust, one of Lindet’s NGO partners.
Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, part of the Lindt Group, is also committed to providing sustainable chocolate to end users. In fact, more than 85% of its supply is purchased through Lindt’s agricultural program. With Lindt and Ghirardelli doing their best to provide value to their supply chain, the food service industry need not worry when it comes to ethical issues and the prices they pay for wholesale purchases.
Although chocolate will continue to be popular around the world, a large part of the industry needs to change its structure to accommodate the higher incomes of cocoa bean producers. Higher cocoa prices help the food service industry prepare ethical and sustainable food, while ensuring that those who consume the food reduce their guilty pleasures. Fortunately, more and more companies are stepping up their efforts.