The Bitter Truth About Your Sweet Tooth

Chocolate makes everything better. But here's what I wish someone had told me when I was mindlessly consuming Hershey's Kisses by the handful: the chocolate industry has some serious baggage. And I'm not talking about the calories.

The Problem with Cocoa (Spoiler: It's Not Just About Your Waistline)

Let's start with the uncomfortable truth: During the 2018-2019 cocoa-growing season, approximately 1.48 million children in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire were engaged in hazardous work on cocoa farms, according to research commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor and conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. This represents about 45% of all children living in agricultural households in cocoa-growing areas of these two countries, which together produce nearly 60% of the world's cocoa.

Many of these children are wielding machetes, carrying heavy loads, and being exposed to pesticides. The U.S. Department of Labor has documented that some children in cocoa farming are subjected to the worst forms of child labor, including trafficking.

But wait, there's more! (I say this like a depressing infomercial).

Cocoa production is also a major driver of deforestation. Between 2000 and 2019, Côte d'Ivoire lost approximately 2.4 million hectares of forest primarily to cocoa production, according to analysis by Trase. In Ghana, roughly 80% of the country's forest resources were lost between 1990 and 2016, according to the Ghana Forestry Commission, with cocoa production being a leading cause. Studies suggest that cocoa cultivation is an underlying driver of over 37% of forest loss in protected areas in Côte d'Ivoire and over 13% in Ghana.

This deforestation destroys critical habitats for endangered species and contributes significantly to carbon emissions. Côte d'Ivoire, a country once named for the abundance of elephants that roamed its lands, now has only a few hundred elephants remaining.

And if that wasn't enough to kill your chocolate buzz, let's talk about the farmers themselves. According to multiple studies, including one cited by the World Economic Forum, the average cocoa farmer in Ghana earns around $1 per day, while those in Côte d'Ivoire make approximately $0.78 per day. Some sources report even lower figures for Côte d'Ivoire farmers at $0.40-$0.45 per day. While I’m a little skeptical of the World Bank’s extreme poverty line guidelines, that’s definitely not…good. 

This poverty is what drives families to rely on child labor in the first place. Meanwhile, the global chocolate industry is worth over $180 billion annually as of 2023. The math isn't mathing, folks.

According to Fairtrade, when cocoa prices were high in the 1970s, cocoa accounted for up to 50% of the value of a chocolate bar. Today, farmers receive around just 6% of the value, while traders, brands, and retailers take over 70%.

Companies to Avoid (AKA The Hall of Shame)

Look, I'm not here to shame you for every Hershey’s Kiss you've ever eaten (I'd be a massive hypocrite), but some companies have been particularly resistant to change despite decades of pressure:

Hershey's: Despite pledging to source 100% certified cocoa by 2020, Hershey failed to meet this target and has consistently ranked at the bottom of chocolate company scorecard assessments. They've been sued multiple times over child labor in their supply chain and have made minimal progress on transparency. When the Living Income Differential was introduced by Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire in 2020, Hershey openly diversified its cocoa sources to avoid paying the premium.

Mars: The company behind M&M's, Snickers, and Milky Way has made similar pledges but investigations have found children working on farms that supply cocoa to Mars as recently as the 2020s.

Nestlé: Perhaps the worst offender across multiple industries (not just chocolate), Nestlé has faced lawsuits alleging they knowingly used child labor in their cocoa supply chain. Their KitKat, Crunch, and other chocolate products have been linked to deforestation and exploitative labor practices. In 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals found that product labeling laws did not require Nestlé to disclose on chocolate wrappers if ingredients were produced by forced child labor.

Lindt: While they market themselves as premium chocolate, investigations have found child labor in their supply chain, and they've been less transparent than some of their competitors about addressing these issues.

Many of these companies signed the Harkin-Engel Protocol in 2001, expressing their collective commitment to reduce the worst forms of child labor in the cocoa sector in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana by 70% by 2020. They failed to meet this target. As of 2020, child labor had actually increased in these regions.

The Good News: Companies Actually Innovating

Not all chocolate companies are terrible! Some are genuinely trying to disrupt the industry and prove that ethical chocolate production is possible (and delicious).

Tony's Chocolonely: This Dutch company was literally founded to make the chocolate industry slave-free. They practice what they call "Tony's 5 Sourcing Principles": traceable beans, higher prices for farmers, strong farmer cooperatives, long-term commitments, and quality improvement.

Their chocolate bars are intentionally divided into unequal pieces to represent the inequality in the chocolate industry. They use 100% traceable beans and have a Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS) across all cooperatives they work with. In their 2024 reporting, they found 387 cases of illegal child labor and remediated 221 of them. They ranked first on the 2025 Chocolate Scorecard with an overall score of 91%.

Full transparency: Tony's has faced criticism for working with Barry Callebaut, one of the world's largest cocoa processors, and was removed from the Slave Free Chocolate organization's ethical list in 2021 because of this partnership. Tony's defends this decision, arguing that working with a major processor proves that large-scale ethical chocolate production is possible and helps them influence the broader industry. They've never claimed their chocolate is 100% slave-free, but rather that they're actively working to identify and remediate issues. They also publish an annual FAIR report detailing their progress and setbacks (yes, they actually admit when things don't go perfectly).

Alter Eco: A certified B-Corp that works directly with smallholder farmers and pays Fair Trade premiums. They're carbon negative (meaning they remove more carbon from the atmosphere than they produce), use compostable packaging, and their quinoa-infused dark chocolate truffles are chef's kiss.

Equal Exchange: A worker-owned co-op that's been pioneering fair trade chocolate since 1986. They work directly with small-scale farmer co-ops, ensuring farmers receive fair prices and have a say in their working conditions. They're transparent about their supply chain—you can literally trace your chocolate bar back to the specific co-op that grew the beans.

Endangered Species Chocolate: They donate 10% of net profits to species conservation and partner with certified sustainable cocoa programs. Their chocolate is Fair Trade Certified, Non-GMO Project Verified, and certified gluten-free.

Theo Chocolate: The first organic and Fair Trade certified chocolate factory in North America. They roast their own beans and maintain direct relationships with cocoa farmers, ensuring transparency throughout their supply chain. They also offer factory tours in Seattle if you want to see ethical chocolate-making in action.

What About Innovation Beyond Traditional Chocolate?

Some companies are taking it a step further by rethinking chocolate entirely:

California Cultured: They're using cellular agriculture to grow cocoa from cell cultures in a lab, eliminating the need for cocoa farms altogether. It's still in development, but could revolutionize the industry.

Planet A Foods: This German startup has created a cocoa-free chocolate alternative made from oats and sunflower seeds that tastes remarkably similar to traditional chocolate but with a fraction of the environmental impact.

What Can You Actually Do?

I know, I know. This is all very overwhelming, and you just wanted to buy some chocolate hearts for your sweetheart. Here's my advice:

1. Look for certifications: Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, and B-Corp certifications aren't bulletproof, but they're better than nothing. Think of them as a minimum baseline, not a gold standard. Research shows that certification programs have had limited overall impact on reducing child labor, but certified farms generally perform better than non-certified ones.
2. Buy from companies with transparent supply chains: If a company can't or won't tell you where their cocoa comes from, that's a red flag. Look for companies that can trace their beans back to specific farms or cooperatives.
3. Check the Chocolate Scorecard: Organizations like Green America, Mighty Earth, and Be Slavery Free publish annual scorecards rating chocolate companies on their human rights and environmental practices. These are updated regularly and provide the most current information.
4. Pay more: I hate saying this because sustainability shouldn’t come at a premium, but ethical chocolate costs more because it actually pays farmers fairly. That $1 chocolate bar at the checkout counter is cheap for a reason.
5. Buy less, but better: Instead of buying a massive bag of fun-size candy bars, get a smaller amount of really good, ethically sourced chocolate. Quality over quantity.
6. Ask questions: Email companies and ask about their supply chain practices. Consumer pressure actually works—it's why any of these companies are making changes at all.

Bottom Line

The chocolate industry has been broken for a long time, but it doesn't have to stay that way. Every time we choose to support companies doing the right thing, we're voting with our wallets for a better system.

The reality is complex: even companies genuinely trying to do better, like Tony's Chocolonely, acknowledge finding child labor in their supply chains. The difference is they're actively monitoring, reporting, and remediating these issues rather than ignoring them. Perfect doesn't exist yet in the chocolate industry, but transparency and accountability are steps in the right direction.

This Valentine's Day (or any day, really), choose chocolate that's sweet for everyone involved—including the farmers who grew it and the planet we all share. And remember: the best chocolate companies are the ones honest enough to admit their challenges while actively working to solve them.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Alter Eco truffles calling my name.