Cocoa, Ethical Sourcing
The power of partnerships
How leading chocolate businesses are using partnerships and technology to create sector-wide traceability in the cocoa industry. Kiran Grewal reports.
C
onsumers have expressed a desire to understand where the ingredients of their products come from, and are found to have based their purchasing decisions on the integrity and origin stories of the commodity in question. According to the World
Cocoa Foundation, cocoa was first developed as a crop in many ancient South American cultures, with the Aztecs and Mayans being the most well-known of these indigenous populations. Researchers have found evidence of cocoa-based food dating back several thousand years. However, since chocolate has become so easily accessible on a global scale, and the demand for this ingredient has grown exponentially, the cocoa industry has seen critical issues such as deforestation, discrimination and exploitation of cocoa farmers and their land. Cocoa is a vulnerable crop. Weather conditions, pest and disease, land competition, farming standards, political factors, and poverty can all influence the quality and quantity of supply. Kate Clancy, Group Sustainability Director at Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate says: “Many smallholder farmers – and
28 Kennedy’s Confection August/September 2022
their communities – struggle to make a living from cocoa, and have limited access to the infrastructure, training and finance they need to invest in their farms and run a successful business. Supporting farmers and their communities to build socioeconomic resilience is therefore an essential precondition for securing the future of cocoa and helps ensure prosperity where cocoa is grown.” Here, Kennedy’s Confection speaks to key businesses in the chocolate industry about how to improve traceability and create lasting benefits to the supply chain.
Effective traceability across the global value chains is vital to
making sustainable chocolate the norm and, the Barry Callebaut Group says this can only be achieved through collaboration of all stakeholders. Barry Callebaut say they are leading and supporting initiatives to make this goal a reality, partnering with key actors across the value chain to scale up efforts towards achieving full transparency and traceability of the cocoa supply chain. “Traceability is a cornerstone of our Forever Chocolate
KennedysConfection.com
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