Kraft, the global food giant, likes the deal it struck with the Rainforest Alliance. So much so, it expanded its commitment to purchase RA certified cocoa from 3,000 to 30,000 by 2012. It’s the first major food giant in Europe to carry the RA seal. That’s still a drop in the bucket given the amount of cocoa it buys but, hey, it’s something. So look for Côte d’Or chocolate with the RA label. Still no fairtrade commitment, though. It seems U.S. based corporations have a really difficulty time with fairtrade. So far, Cadbury stands alone with its fairtrade commitment in Europe. Let’s hope that Kraft’s attempt to buy Cadbury won’t pan out.
Posts Tagged ‘Rainforest Alliance’
Kraft Likes Deal with Rainforest Alliance
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009Fairtrade vs. Rainforest Alliance
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009Here’s a very interesting article about the differences between the two certification standards. It certainly affirms the doubts I had about the Rainforest Alliance approach to farmers in the tropics.
Trading Visions Posts Q&A on Mars and Cadbury
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009Why did Mars and Cadbury recently decided to seek third-party verification for some or all of their chocolate products? Trading Visions, a UK web site devoted to increasing information and education about fairtrade, wanted to find out. They contacted both Mars and Cadbury and number organizations to provide their answers to this and other questions. I was invited to contribute my own thoughts as well.
You can find the all questions and answers on their web site.
Mars Commits to Sustainability … Sort Of
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009I’ve taken a little time with this post to process some older information I had. But here it is:
Mars has committed to sourcing sustainable cocoa. According the company’s press release, Mars is “aiming to certify its entire cocoa supply as being produced in a sustainable manner, by 2020.” The firm plans to partner with the Rainforest Alliance (RA) which will provide the certification services. Well, at least for some of the cocoa. Here’s the press release again: “By 2020, the goal of the collaboration is to achieve Rainforest Alliance certification of 100,000 metric tonnes of cocoa annually for use in Mars products, a significant portion of Mars total cocoa requirements.” No word what significant means. Finally, the press release mentions that Mars will continue to work with UTZ Certified to achieve certification for cocoa produced in West Africa.
