Nestle made a big announcement today: Its KitKat bars will soon be made with fair trade chocolate. Fair trade chocolate is harvested and produced in such a way that farmers and workers are sure to get a just compensation for their labor. When it comes to chocolate production, that’s often not the case. In fact, slave labor and forced child labor have been documented as a significant part of the industry. Inhumanity is what keeps your chocolate bar relatively cheap.
So, it’s good news that Nestle will soon begin making KitKat bars using fair trade chocolate, but it’s good news that only travels so far. Only KitKat bars sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland will have fair trade chocolate. The rest, sold here in the United States and elsewhere, will have the same old unfair trade chocolate. Yummy slave labor. Yummy child workers.
Years ago, Nestle promised that it would find a way to distinguish between chocolate produced with fair labor from chocolate produced with slaves and child workers. It set a deadline of July, 2005. But then, that deadline passed.
It seems that Nestle has, since then, found a way to sort out some of the chocolate it gets, and ensure that it’s ethically produced. But, it keeps on buying the other, unethical chocolate.
Why? Because they’re making big money, that’s why, and they don’t want to give that up, even if it means that children are robbed of their childhoods, and humans are treated as pieces of property.
What can you do about it? Don’t buy any chocolate from Nestle. But certified fair trade chocolate instead. Here are some sources:
Ithaca Fine Chocolates
Global Exchange
Alter Eco
Omanhene
Equal Exchange
Sweet Earth Chocolates
What’s that? You notice that the chocolate is more expensive? Well, that’s because it’s not made using slaves and forced child labor. Are you willing to pay for that, or are you going to go down Nestle’s route, and say that you’d love to help end slavery, but it’s more important for you to have lots of money?
