I have been enjoying Peeled SO much, Lisa! I've passed it on to a few others as well who have subscribed and also had really positive things to say. As an avid chocolate eater, this one in particular really jumped out to me. Is there a way to tell if other brands are abiding by ethical practices? For example, I have several bars of Hu Chocolate in my pantry, and Stonegrindz is another brand I typically get. They tout single origin etc etc, but it's still unclear. It is safer to just avoid brands that don't explicitly say how they source their chocolate (because if they followed good practices, you'd think they'd want to promote that)?
Thank you, Kimie! So great to hear from you and thank you for reading and sharing. This is a great question. This list of companies is much longer than mine and is super helpful: https://www.slavefreechocolate.org/ethical-chocolate-companies I should have included it in the original post. Green America also does a scorecard but it's more for the bigger/biggest brands. It's also out of date but is expected to be updated this spring: https://www.greenamerica.org/end-child-labor-cocoa/chocolate-scorecard Unfortunately there isn't a super easy answer in terms of how to tell if a particular brand that isn't on one of these lists is paying attention to its supply chain (because even specialty brands could be buying from middlemen). An idea: Ask them on social media! "I love your chocolate and want to continue buying it, and I've been hearing a lot about child labor in chocolate supply chains. Can you share whether or not you've made efforts to ensure your chocolate is not produced using child labor?"
This is so incredibly helpful, Lisa! It's great to see some other brands I am familiar with on these lists and definitely incentivizes me to go with those over the ones that don't explicitly reveal their policies. Such a good idea to ask other brands on social media! Definitely going to do that. Thank you!
So good to know! I did message a couple of companies on social media and even the way they responded (in addition to the information in the responses themselves) was very eye-opening and shifted my buying patterns. Alter Eco was one I recently discovered and have been enjoying; glad to see it on this list as well. Thanks, Lisa!!
I have been enjoying Peeled SO much, Lisa! I've passed it on to a few others as well who have subscribed and also had really positive things to say. As an avid chocolate eater, this one in particular really jumped out to me. Is there a way to tell if other brands are abiding by ethical practices? For example, I have several bars of Hu Chocolate in my pantry, and Stonegrindz is another brand I typically get. They tout single origin etc etc, but it's still unclear. It is safer to just avoid brands that don't explicitly say how they source their chocolate (because if they followed good practices, you'd think they'd want to promote that)?
Thank you, Kimie! So great to hear from you and thank you for reading and sharing. This is a great question. This list of companies is much longer than mine and is super helpful: https://www.slavefreechocolate.org/ethical-chocolate-companies I should have included it in the original post. Green America also does a scorecard but it's more for the bigger/biggest brands. It's also out of date but is expected to be updated this spring: https://www.greenamerica.org/end-child-labor-cocoa/chocolate-scorecard Unfortunately there isn't a super easy answer in terms of how to tell if a particular brand that isn't on one of these lists is paying attention to its supply chain (because even specialty brands could be buying from middlemen). An idea: Ask them on social media! "I love your chocolate and want to continue buying it, and I've been hearing a lot about child labor in chocolate supply chains. Can you share whether or not you've made efforts to ensure your chocolate is not produced using child labor?"
This is so incredibly helpful, Lisa! It's great to see some other brands I am familiar with on these lists and definitely incentivizes me to go with those over the ones that don't explicitly reveal their policies. Such a good idea to ask other brands on social media! Definitely going to do that. Thank you!
Yet another list that is slightly helpful-- just found it, thought I'd share: https://www.greenamerica.org/blog/put-down-big-name-chocolate-bar-grab-one-these-instead :)
So good to know! I did message a couple of companies on social media and even the way they responded (in addition to the information in the responses themselves) was very eye-opening and shifted my buying patterns. Alter Eco was one I recently discovered and have been enjoying; glad to see it on this list as well. Thanks, Lisa!!