Chocolate manufacturers usually do not check whether child labor is involved
Which chocolate can I eat with a clear conscience? Where does the cocoa come from? Providers often have no answer to these questions. After all: A Swiss chocolate maker gets the best mark.
A farmer processes the cocoa after harvest in Sao Felix do Xingu, Brazil.
Photo: Mauro Pimentel (AFP)
Business for Swiss chocolate manufacturers is booming at Easter. But what about sustainability, i.e. good working conditions and environmental protection?
The answer is sobering: In an international comparison, local chocolate is in the middle. At least that’s what the current “Chocolate Scorecard 2023” says – a list that several dozen non-governmental organizations such as the WWF or the network against human trafficking have drawn up in cooperation with companies and universities.
The list evaluates 72 chocolate companies worldwide according to five sustainability criteria: human rights, child labour, cocoa farmer wages, deforestation, land use and transparency. Depending on the result, there is a green, yellow, orange or red point for each criterion – and a total rating in these four colors.
Only eleven percent of the manufacturers can say where the cocoa comes from
Many chocolate companies now boast of the “sustainability” label. But that’s not always true, as the creators of the Chocolate Scorecard 2023 found out in a survey of 72 companies, including 43 manufacturers and 29 retailers.
According to this, only eleven percent of the 53 chocolate companies that responded to the request for the current ranking can fully trace back where the processed cocoa comes from.
A coffee farmer in Ivory Coast lays out cocoa beans to dry.
Photo: Legnan Koula (EPA)
According to their own regulations, nine out of ten chocolate manufacturers or traders do not cut down forests. But only just half are taking concrete measures to ensure that their suppliers really do not clear any trees, according to a press release from WWF Switzerland that has not yet been published.
Child labor: Only six percent is discovered
There is a real scandal to be reported when it comes to child labour: Only six percent of children who are exposed to serious child labor are actually discovered.
At the turn of the millennium, the chocolate industry concluded an agreement with the governments of the most important cocoa-growing countries. The aim was to eradicate child labor on cocoa plantations in its worst form by 2005. Instead, the number of children working in industry in western Africa has actually increased, according to a 2015 study commissioned by the US government. In 2020, a study came to the same conclusion.
Of the Swiss companies, Halba, Coop’s own brand, came in fifth place. It was awarded a green symbol along with only four other companies.
The world’s largest food manufacturer Nestlé from Vevey VD, which owns the chocolate brand Cailler and produces the colorful Smarties, made it in 10th place.
A conveyor belt transports chocolate bars from Halba. Of the Swiss companies, Coop’s own brand performed best.
Photo: Gaetan Bally (Keystone)
The other Swiss chocolate manufacturers are in the upper midfield. The world’s largest chocolate and cocoa manufacturer, Barry Callebaut from Zurich, is in 16th place. It received very good marks in the fight against child labor, but compared to the rest of the industry it does poorly when it comes to environmentally harmful agriculture.
Lindt & Sprüngli from Kilchberg ZH follows in 20th place. The gold rabbit manufacturer does poorly when it comes to cocoa farmers’ wages and environmental protection.
Dutch providers are in the lead
From a Swiss point of view, there is one big absentee from the list: Migros is missing, along with its subsidiary Delica, which produces its own brand chocolates. ‘Unfortunately, you have been forgotten. Without reason,” says the WWF.
The ranking is led by the Dutch brand Original Beans. She scored top marks in all criteria. The chocolate, which is also available in Switzerland, is committed to sustainability and is likely to catch the eye of some with its decorative packaging.
Among the companies that have not responded are food giant Unilever and Toblerone maker Mondelez.
Toni’s Choconely, also from the Netherlands, is in second place, ahead of Beyond Good, a chocolate from New York. Among the companies that have not responded are food giant Unilever and Toblerone maker Mondelez.
Overall, the chocolate business in Switzerland is still going well. Last year, manufacturers were able to produce more and increase sales by 6 percent, as the Association of Swiss Chocolate Manufacturers, Chocosuisse, announced on Monday. Exports in particular flourished. This has increased, while less chocolate was sold in Switzerland.
Chocosuisse announced that domestic business has not yet recovered from the pandemic low. According to their own statements, the chocolate manufacturers are primarily struggling with the price of Swiss sugar. This has roughly doubled compared to the previous year.
Easter trend towards high-quality chocolate
Initial sales figures from the online retailer Digitec Galaxus indicate that the chocolate Easter business will also be a success this year. In February, the Migros subsidiary sold twice as many bars of chocolate and Easter bunnies as in the previous year.
With Easter chocolate, Coop is observing a “trend towards high-quality, but somewhat less solid products”. New shapes such as dinosaurs or unicorns were also very popular in the chocolate sector.
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