I hate to burst your chocolate bubble, but you could be eating blood chocolate!!!! 

That’s right, you could be munching on a bar of chocolate that came from the sweat and tears….and blood from a child who is being forced into child slavery. You probably heard of Blood Diamonds, and I wrote a blog on coffee, which uses at SOME of the plantations slave workers. CLICK HERE FOR BLOG But I and I’m sure a lot of people reading this blog on www.slimhealthysexy.com did not know that CHOCOLATE is WORSE than Blood Diamonds! (Bigger market therefore uses more slaves.)  How did I find out?  I was talking to my local coffee guru who informed me that chocolate uses the most slave labor than coffee and diamonds. What?! Blood chocolate!!!! Hershey uses SLAVE LABOR?  Can this be true?  So, of course, I did a little research. Here is what I got.

Where does chocolate come from? 

It all starts with a small tropical tree, the Theobroma cacao, usually called simply, “cacao.” (Pronounced ka-KOW. Theobroma is Greek for “food of the gods.”) Cacao is native to Central and South America, but it is grown commercially throughout the tropics. About 70% of the world’s cacao is grown in Africa.

A cacao tree can produce close to two thousand pods per year. The ridged, football shaped pod, or fruit, of the cacao grows from the branches and, oddly, straight out of the trunk. The pods, which mature throughout the year, encase a sticky white pulp and about 30 or 40 seeds. The pulp is both sweet and tart; it is eaten and used in making drinks. The seeds, were you to bite into one straight out of the pod, are incredibly bitter. Not at all like the chocolate that comes from them. (Source: http://facts-about-chocolate.com/where-does-chocolate-come-from/)

Then what happens?

At the factory, the cacao beans are first sifted for foreign objects- you know, rocks, machetes, whatever got left in the bag. The cacao is weighed and sorted by type so that the manufacturer knows exactly what type of cacao is going into the chocolate. Some manufacturers use up to twelve types of cacao in their recipes, and they must carefully measure so that the flavor is consistent time after time.

Next, the cacao beans are roasted in large, rotating ovens, at temperatures of about 210-290F. Roasting lasts from half an hour up to two hours. The heat brings out more flavor and aroma, and it dries and darkens the beans.

Okay, this sounds very innocent so far but…

According to an investigative report by the BBC, hundreds of thousands of children are being purchased from their parents or outright stolen and then shipped to Ivory Coast, where they are enslaved on cocoa farms. Destitute parents in these poverty-stricken lands sell their children to traffickers believing that they will find honest work in Ivory Coast and send some of their earnings home. The terrible reality is that these children, 11-to-16-years-old but sometimes younger, are forced to do hard manual labor 80 to 100 hours a week. They are paid nothing, receive no education, are under fed, and are often viciously beaten if they try to escape. Most will never see their families again.

Who are the biggest chocolate companies that use slave labor? 

The bottom line: Most chocolate is very, very bad — even if it’s expensive, comes in a fancy box, or calls itself “gourmet.”

Hershey, Nestle and Mars. Didn’t we all grow up with those brands? Right now, I bet they don’t taste as good now that you know they use slave labor. Everybody’s favorite chocolate bar is now involved in a lawsuit. As per Refinery 21, lawsuits were filed against major candy companies namely The Hershey Company, Mars Inc., and Nestle.

Thanks Hershey

What can you do for your chocolate fix?

Well, first of all, you shouldn’t wolf down a large chocolate bar like it was the last chocolate bar you were ever going to have. Chocolate, and good TOP GRADE chocolate that is ethically produced and ORGANIC should be savored on special occasions.

Look for chocolate that comes from Latin America which seems to have the labels ORGANIC, Rainforest Alliance and FAIR TRADE.

>>>SUGAR BLUES<<<<

Here is a list:

• Aldi
• Alma Chocolate
• Alter Eco Chocolate
• Amano Chocolate
• Askinoise Chocolate
• Belicious
• Caribeans Chocolate
• Charm School Chocolates
• Chocolate Cartel
• Chocolat Celeste
• Chocolate Tree
• Choconat
• Compartes Chocolates
• Chuao
• Dandelion Chocolate
• Denman Island Chocolate
• Divine Chocolate Co.
• El Ceibo
• The Endangered Species 
• Equal Exchange
• Forever Cocoa
• Fresco Chocolate
• Fruition Chocolate
• Gayleen’s Decadence
• Giddy Yo Yo
• Grenada Chocolate Company
• Grocer’s Daughter Chocolate
• Health by Chocolate
• Honest Artisan Chocolate
• Ithaca Fine Chocolates
• L.A. Burdick Chocolates
• La Iguana Chocolate
• La Siembra Cooperative
• Lillie Belle Farms
• Madecasse
• Malagasy
• Max Havelaar
• Mayordomo
• Montezuma’s Chocolates
• Nayah Amazon Chocolates
• Newman’s Own Organics
• Purdy’s Chocolate
• Omanahene Cocoa Bean Company
• Original Hawaiian Chocolate
• Montevérgine
• Patric Chocolate
• Plamil Organic Chocolate
• Pure Lovin’ Chocolate
• Rain Republic
• Rapunzel Pure Organics
• Ritual Chocolate
• Samaritan Xocolata
• Seed & Bean Chocolate
• Shaman Chocolates
• Sibú Chocolate
• Solkiki Chocolate
• Sweet Earth Chocolates
• Sweet Riot
• Sun Eaters Organics
• Taza Chocolate
• Terra Nostra Organic
• Terror Chocolate
• TCHO
• Theo Chocolate
• The Original Chocolate Bar (Houston, TX)
• Tobago Estate Chocolate
• TONY’S CHOCOLONELY
• Vivani Chocolate
• Vosges
• Wei of Chocolate
• Zotter

You can also Google your favorite chocolate company to see where they stand on SLAVERY. Example: I want to see if Godiva uses Blood Chocolate. I found this-

Hershey’s and Godiva both poor social track records . Hershey’s has been a perennial target for refusing  to take action to end child slave labor on cocoa farms in the Côte D’Ivoire. You can find more information about Hershey’s and their track record at Raise the Bar or their report card by Free2Work.Godiva received a “D-” ranking from Free2Work and is not certified by any 3rd party agency.

Now, both Hershey’s and Godiva are doubling down and opposing consumers’ right to know regarding genetically engineered foods. Hershey’s has contributed $498,006.72 and Godiva has contributed $11,121.53 to the No on 37 Campaign. You can see a full list of corporations supporting and opposing Proposition 37 here.

My name is Vida Tsatso Boaful, and I am a cocoa farmer at Nkranfum, a community in the Assin North Municipality in Ghana. I am part of the Rainforest Alliance certification program because I want to be trained in improved and efficient ways of cultivating cocoa, so as to let my cocoa trees last longer, increase my yield, get some premium on the sale of my beans and also conserve and protect existing forests and waterways in and around my farm.  http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/work/agriculture/cocoa/vida

Click on the picture

So, the next time you purchase chocolate, I advise you to skip the impulse shopping at the checkout where are the BLOOD CHOCOLATE is and peruse the candy aisle for FAIR TRADE chocolate. It will up the price on the chocolate from $1.00 to $4/$5 but it is soooo worth it.

The issue of children working in the cocoa industry has been the subject of scrutiny and attempted reforms for more than a decade. Yet an estimated 2.24 million children under the age of 17 still work in cocoa production in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, according to a study published by Tulane University in 2015. The number of child laborers in the industry rose by about 59% over a five-year span, the study found, despite a 2001 international agreement aimed at ending such abuses.

Slave Labor click here

STOP SLAVE LABOR!!!!

Thank you for reading,

Terry Ryan

Terry Ryan

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