You may think that when it comes to chocolate, there’s no such thing as a bad decision. But the chocolate brand you choose to support with your dollars matters a lot. According to the US Department of Labor, over two million children in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire work in hazardous conditions growing cocoa and make less than $1 per day; some are even considered child slaves and are imprisoned on cocoa farms, according to the BBC. Responsibly consuming chocolate doesn’t just mean stopping when you’re full — it means being aware of which chocolate companies are adhering to ethical labor and sustainability standards and which aren’t.
What is fair-trade chocolate
Companies like Hershey, Nestle, and Mars — which account for 35 percent of the world’s chocolate production, according to Grist — are rife with unethical business practices, including using child slave labor to harvest and produce chocolate and rampant “rainforest demolition,” which contributes to climate change. In places like Indonesia and Malaysia, rainforests are destroyed to make room for palm oil plantations, a practice that “releases tons of greenhouse gases and displaces indigenous peoples.”
The simplest solution to consuming ethical chocolate is to look for brands that label their