this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2024
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I should've asked this earlier before I did the chocolate buying but as the title says, any options for chocolate not made by slave labor?

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[–] [email protected] 64 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Tony Chocoloney!

Literally the only one to my knowledge that actually goes out to ensure they're not just being lied to. They are also open about the fact that even though they do their best, they can't absolutely guarantee they're 100% slave free.

Orgs like "fair trade" for example just take the word of producers. It's happened that a tv crew went out to visit one of their farms only to find child slaves at work.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's good, too. And you feel like you're opening a Wonka bar. The packaging is nice.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I ordered one of the Rainbow Tasting Packs awhile back and remember liking all of them, but I tend to prefer additional things in mine (e.g. nougat, caramel, etc.), so I liked those.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

nice, those are great

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

How do they check this? Seems like a good way to get yourself shot trying to walk in to a covert slave operation to see if it's really a covert slave operation.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There's a wikipedia article going in depth, also their website. Also some of their story on the wrapper itself

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

They don't sell that brand in my country so I can't speak for the wrapper but I checked the Wikipedia page for the company and their website. The wiki page doesn't really help with the claim but provides some helpful context for how the company was founded and about Tony himself who you could say did indeed go out and check in his capacity as a broadcaster, though prior to forming this company.

I think it's probably more accurate to say that Tony's puts high standards and systems in place in addition to external certification programs to make it more likely that when they're assured that production in their supply chain doesn't involve slavery, it's more likely to be true. I guess we haven't set a definition for what going out and checking vs taking someone's word for it means here but to the extent that I wondered how exactly they were able to physically go and inspect without endangering themselves the answer seems mostly to be that they don't actually send people from the company to go and check as far as I can see. I think it's worth pointing out as well that they're probably not best viewed as a good manufacturer in contrast to a Fairtrade certified manufacturer because they seem to think those certifications are good and credible and are themselves Fairtrade certified, it's just that according to them that's really only a baseline minimum to try to avoid slavery creeping in to the supply chain. The other steps they take seem to be more around fair practices and traceability to make slavery less likely to occurr and a lot of this depends on their careful selection of partners and the formation of co-ops.

The closest claim I could find that resembles my interpretation of the idea that they go out and check rather than just taking the word of a supplier or external certification body is something they have an article about on their page called Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System. CLMRS seems to be a set of practices that co-ops that Tony's has partnered with are encouraged to adopt and relies upon volunteers from the community (unclear which community, is that the co-op or the physical area where most members are from?) to go out and inspect so that's pretty close to what you say. Their description of this system is entirely focussed on "families" found to be employing child labour and child labour specifically as opposed to anything else. None of this is a critique of this approach I should say right now, but in terms of the claim of how they go about actively checking for themselves rather than taking the word of others, this approach seems a little more complicated than that and not entirely aligned with that description. It's volunteers from a community not Tony's representatives or employees, and they're specifically focussing on a kind of slavery where such a form of inspection could reasonably be done with any safety where it's household farmers likely using their own children for labour. Their approach to that specific situation is great I should add, and doesn't just cut people loose likely making the problem worse and tries to work with them to eliminate the practice.

Great though they sound and certainly an option I'd consider if I could, I think from my initial research that the fact that the closest thing to your claim is CLMRS and that this is done by the co-op themselves, with verification done by unnoficial volunteers, not Tony's themselves, and that adopting CLMRS seems not to actually be mandatory to become a Tony's partner does I think put the idea that Tony's checks rather than just accepting claims in to a different and more nuanced light.

I will express once more it sounds like to my non-expert ears that they are doing this right and I don't criticise their approach, I'm just clarifying because based on what you said I was imagining people from Tony's making random inspections of cocoa plantations that may have many types of slavery going on (not just child) and which may be run by more sophisticated criminal networks that might violently defend their interests rather than just family run farms.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

That is more detail than I went into

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I love their dark chocolate and almond bar. It's so good.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 month ago

The only mass production ethical chocolate I trust is Tony's Chocolonely, because they're the most transparent about how they source their chocolate, acknowledge that they can never be perfect in their goal, and actively try to improve conditions for workers that grow cocoa. I will also buy local artisan chocolate while traveling.

Basically, I've decided that chocolate isn't worth the neo-imperialism and slave labor.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Look for this fairtrade logo

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Hard agree. Any statements about working conditions a company makes needs third party verification. Last time I checked, the Fair Trade peeps were the most reputable verifiers.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 month ago

Unfortunately, according to the John Oliver segment on chocolate, it is almost impossible to guarantee that the chocolate you buy does not use slave labor in the process. Even the most ethical of companies get lied to.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Today I went to Trader Joes and got their in store brand Chocolate Minis. The ones I got were $2 a pack and didn't say fair trade on them but slightly more expensive. The ones to the left said organic and fair trade so I don't know where the cheaper one is sourced from.

For personal consumption, I've been eating Aldi chocolate which has some fancy name and it's fair trade and ethically sourced.

I've heard Sprouts has good options but anecdotally I hear it sucks in comparison to Aldi's.

I know Whole Foods is an option but I'm not supporting bezos

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Never personally had the pleasure of purchasing it, but I understand Tony's Chocolonely is often considered the go-to for affordable and ethically sourced chocolate. It's obviously still more expensive than what you'll find at the grocery store, but, you know, slavery.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

In similarity to coffee: Consider very small producers. The problem with coffe and chocolate is that the real taste only results from the last production steps (after fermentation and roasting). That means that companies that buy from many small farms (sometimes hundreds) have no clue which farm did it the best and thus the farmers also don't know it.

But because only the farmers have a really strong influence on the quality of the chocolate they need to know if what they did was right.

Now a small company might have their own farms or work with very few suppliers they can give feedback about the quality. The farmers can produce better raw chocolate beans and the chocolate tastes best.

Also because the farmers learn their worth we westeners can't exploit them so nicely and we avoid slavery.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm interested in everyone's risk of slavery to acceptable to purchase ratio

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Also, I don't think it's a ratio issue. It's about making choices. Giving up chocolate is not all that hard to do. Being able to find affordable shoes that fit which were not made in Asian sweatshops is a lot harder.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Okay so for you chocolate isnt worth giving up slavery for but shoes are. Pretty reasonable imo. Def more conscientious than me

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

I try to be as ethical a consumer I can be, which is not especially ethical when you're poor. It would be nice to have the money to buy clothing made in a country less likely to be using slave labor, but it's usually more expensive and I can't come up with over $100 to buy shoes when the toe on my shoe breaks or the heel comes off.

With chocolate, I just have to not buy it and the only way my life is affected is the disappointment of not eating chocolate.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Good for you. They're disgusting.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

I'm not taking this banana slander they actually goated fruit

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Small grower-manufacturers that make bean to bar chocolate. Also has the advantage of higher quality chocolate that keeps the natural cocoa butter instead of adding milk.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Can you name any brands that do this?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Jouvay and The Grenada Chocolate Company. Both export, I believe. So might be available where you are.