February 15, 2010

• Cadbury's new Fair Trade packaging

  Food

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  Cadbury, one of my favorite chocolate brands, has announced another breakthrough in the chocolate's history. It is changing its packaging adding the Fair Trade mark to signify its continuing effort to trade with a conscience. (Thanks to @cherrytf of Twitter for the tip).

  These new batch of chocolates with the new packaging will be out before Easter. However, the new packaging is only for Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate line.

  This also means that the new Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate will no longer use palm oil, but will purely be using pure cocoa milk. This increases the cocoa solids to 26% from the previous 21%, which spells more flavor.

  Cadbury New Zealands managing director, Matthew Oldham, said in a statement (click here) that the company is happy to be the first mainstream chocolate company to get Fair Trade Certification.

  "We hope other chocolate makers follow our lead and do the right thing by committing to Fairtrade and in turn deliver real financial benefits to cocoa farmers," he said.

  He added that the new design is to emphasize the company's commitment to ethical sourcing and quality ingredients. Perhaps this is the reason why they did away with the palm oil (labeled as vegetable fat), which is one of the most unsustainable ingredient for food products. (See petition asking Cadbury to do away with palm oil or join the Anti Palm Oil Community in Facebook)

  The palm oil industry is one of the leading causes of deforestration in Indonesia. This means the loss of habitat for orangutans, projected to disappear in 12 years should the slash and burn for palm oil be continued.

  So, aside from getting their cocoa oils and other ingredients ethically, Cadbury have raised the standard of ethical sourcing by ensuring the survival of the Orangutans and the Sumatran rainforest from total degradation due to the palm oil industry. Mind you, there is yet to be discovered a sustainable source for palm oil, so palm oil is through and through unsustainable. Besides, the elimination of palm oil from Cadbury's ingredients will ensure a more flavorful chocolate bar.

  “This is a major commitment, and Fairtrade is an area where scale really does matter. We are the country’s (referring to New Zealand) biggest chocolate maker and in making the nation’s best selling chocolate Fairtrade we can do more good,” said Oldham.

  “Already Cadbury’s move has quadrupled the amount of Fairtrade cocoa coming out of Ghana which benefits more than 40,000 farmers - a commitment no other New Zealand chocolate maker can come close to,” he added.

  This commitment to Fair Trade will see more than 5.7 million blocks and bars in New Zealand and 350 million Cadbury Dairy Milk blocks and bars globally to carry the Fairtrade label by the end of the year.

  It should be noted however, that with Kraft acquiring the chocolate brand, will bring Cadbury deeper on the issue of companies with unethical labor practices and poor business practices carrying the Fair Trade mark.

  A Tree Hugger article raised eyebrows on Kraft's sincerity on putting the welfare of the people first over profit.

  It quoted Kraft's CEO Irene Rosenfield saying, "The combination of Kraft Foods and Cadbury creates a global powerhouse in snacks, confectionery and quick meals. Together we have impressive global reach and an unrivalled portfolio of iconic brands, with tremendous growth potential."

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  Are you conscious of the ethical and societal impact of the food you buy?

  Photo credit: Cadbury | Video credit: Cadbury, PRI, Glass And A Half Full Productions
  

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