Melissa Schweisguth, formerly of Dagoba Chocolate and now a freelancer and consultant on sustainability issues, has written a nice piece on sorting out the various certification schemes. Check it out.
Hershey and Social Responsibility
Last week, the Hershey company released its Corporate Social Responsibility Report. Like many of such reports, it’s full of pretty pictures and statistics. What it does not mention is that Hershey is the only large chocolate maker in the US which has not yet participated in some form of third party certification for sourcing its cocoa. I’m not talking fair trade here, I’m talking any form of third party certification.
The folks at the International Labor Rights Forum have released their own report and it highlights four areas in which Hershey should make dramatic changes:
- Sourcing – Hershey has no system in place to ensure that its cocoa is not produced with abusive child labor;
- Transparency – Hershey does not reveal its cocoa suppliers, making verification impossible;
- Greenwashing – Hershey points to is donations, but, again, there’s not system in place to address child labor;
- Certification – Hershey has refused to enter into any certification, only a few of its Dagoba line bars are certified.
Given its long history of concern for working people and the social conscience of its founder, it remains a puzzle why Hershey is not doing the right thing when it comes to sourcing cocoa from certified reputable sources.
Competing Labels Confuse Consumers
It was only a question of time before large corporations discovered that there’s money to be made in the “ethical” market. Just like as they turned “organic” into “industrial organic,” corporate interests are looking for the legitimacy of an “ethical” label without having to pay the extra cost or engage with the underlying principles. Here’s a great article on the topic.
Kimberley Process in Trouble
Diamonds are not cocoa, but a little diversion is always good and this post deals with the dangers and pitfalls of certification schemes. Global Witness claims that the Kimberley process is not working as intended. Devised in 2003, the KP was intended to certify that diamonds offered for sale do not come from conflict areas around the world. In its press release, the Global witness points to Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Guinea and Venezuela to show that diamonds are still being smuggled, that oversight is lax and certification enforcement weak.
