The Ethical Warrior - Blog

It has been well reported over the last 15 years that child labour issues are a grave concern in the cocoa supply chain.

Last week we wrote a detailed report on how this came to be an issue, what has been done to date and what the ethical options are for chocolate lovers.This week we want to share an interview with Peter Millard, supply chain manager for Australian chocolate brand Haighs, and their journey to becoming 85% ethically certified in their sourcing of cocoa – a massive achievement in the face of a very challenging and complex global issue.

Nestle has announced a big step in their ethical sourcing journey by announcing that kit kats and milo are now produced with cocoa that is 100% ethically certified.

This post is part one in a two-series post, the second post will outline in more detail the good, the bad, and the better options for your ethical chocolate consumption - we’ll do the research for you!

Chocolate has become one of the biggest hot button ethical sourcing issues in the last 15 years due to the widespread use of child labour in the Western African locations that supply the majority share of the world’s cocoa.  It sounds far from home to us here in Australia, but let me share with you some staggering statistics. In July, Tulane University released a research report commissioned by the US Department of Labour on child labour in the cocoa industry, with the finding that there are still 3.73 million labourers aged 5-17 working in the cocoa fields of Cote d’Ivoire alone, an increase of 5% since the previous report commission in 2008/09.