Choose Ethical Chocolate
by author Ellen Niemer

In 2005 Canadians consumed 3.90 kg of chocolate per person, making it the most popular confection in Canada. The health benefits of consuming dark chocolate are well documented but, when faced with a delectable array of dark chocolate, should factors beyond whether it contains 70 percent cocoa influence your buying decision?

When choosing chocolate, what you may also want to consider is where the cocoa in your chocolate came from and who produced it. The Ivory Coast, or Cte d'Ivoire, in West Africa exports more than 40 percent of the world's cocoa. The problem: the cocoa beans that go into the chocolate that melts in your mouth and lifts your mood may have been harvested by child-slave labour.

Good Intentions Gone Awry

Slave traders traffic 12- to 16-year-old boys from neighbouring countries-many of them from Mali-to the Cte d'Ivoire, where they are forced to work harvesting beans on small cocoa farms. Overall, 59 percent of child labourers are boys, while 41 percent are girls. The children are paid an average annual wage equivalent to $130 Canadian for a 36-hour work week.

In 2001 the American and Ivorian governments, along with other human rights and labour groups, endorsed the Harkin-Engle Cocoa Protocol to voluntarily eliminate child-slave labour on cocoa farms. Despite these good intentions, Save the Children Canada estimates that as many as 312,000 children are still being exploited as child labourers by cocoa farmers in West Africa.

Look for the Logo

To ensure that the chocolate you enjoy has not been produced by child slaves, look for the Fair Trade Certified logo. Fair trade certification guarantees that the labour practices of cocoa farms are monitored. It also guarantees cocoa farmers a fair price in an industry that is notorious for underpaying farmers for cocoa while large corporations reap huge profits on chocolate products.

Fair trade certification also provides social premiums that are used for community and family development projects, such as constructing schools and health clinics.

The fair trade label tells you that organic and shade-grown techniques have been used to grow cocoa beans. Organically growing cocoa beans is a labour-intensive process for which organic farmers receive additional premiums. Crops are grown without the use of pesticides, benefitting the soil, the farmer, and the consumer.

For a list of Canadian companies licensed to use the Fair Trade Certified logo on their products, visit transfair.ca/en/. It is possible to enjoy heavenly chocolate in an ethical, earth-friendly way.

For more about chocolate, read Caroline Csiki's article "Ch-ch-ch-chocolate" in the February 2008 issue of alive magazine.

Ellen Niemer is a New Westminster writer and editor who believes that chocolate should be enjoyed guilt-freeby choosing brands that bear the Fair Trade Certified logo.

Source: alive Web Exclusive, February 2008