It’s not a pleasant day for Tony’s Chocolonely. The Dutch advocate for fair chocolate has lost its “official” recognition by the organisation Slave Free Chocolate. A very harsh judgment, which shows little consideration for the broader picture.
Malpractices
To be clear: slave and child labour is still a major problem in the chocolate production chain, and it is one that needs addressing. So it’s not that the people of Slave Free Chocolate are fighting the wrong battle, quite the contrary.
But the reason why Tony’s Chocolonely is now falling from grace does not show much consideration for the ultimate goal: putting an end to these malpractices once and for all. In specific terms: Tony’s Chocolonely adheres strictly to the criteria used by Slave Free Chocolate. Things to know:
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All cocoa beans are perfectly traceable to the producers, where no child or slave labour occurs.
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The website’s home page is dedicated to the problems of the current cocoa industry.
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The company takes initiatives to support its farmers, from the most obvious (paying a fair price) to more far-reaching actions (organising training).
However, that is not enough to outweigh what Slave Free Chocolate stumbles across: the fact that Tony’s Chocolonely uses the facilities of chocolate giant Barry Callebaut for the final production stage of its chocolate bars. The latter is a major company which, despite recognising the problem and committing to “be in line” by 2025, can at this moment not guarantee that in its supply chain there is no child or slave labour.
Guilty by association
Thus, says Slave Free Chocolate, Tony’s Chocolonely is perpetuating that pernicious system through its partnership. Guilty by association. However, there is a lot to be said for Tony’s counter-argument: by producing fair chocolate on a large scale, the company proves that its model could be applicable to the entire chocolate industry. And it does so right under the nose of one of the global giants in the industry. To us, that seems a more convincing strategy than tooting its own horn from a small workshop unable to produce significant volumes.
With this approach, Slave Free Chocolate is shooting itself in the foot, or maybe even in both feet. On the one hand, the organisation is falling back into its niche with a ‘holier than thou’ mentality. The company suddenly invents a new criterion to judge chocolate producers on, namely, association with another manufacturer who does not (yet) colour inside the lines. And on the other hand, the initiative becomes a bit more of a sheer (Latin) American party. A glance at the list of – largely unknown – manufacturers that are still at the mercy of the organisation shows that the European presence is limited to a handful of producers from Austria, Ireland, Spain and Germany (post-Brexit, we will ignore the British names on the list).
Its own factory
In short: for Tony’s Chocolonely the removal from the list – because, to be clear, this is not about a label or quality mark – is annoying from a PR point of view. But it should not be dramatised either. The best way forward for the company would be to dust off the plans for its own factory again, which got put on hold due to the Covid crisis. If those plans become a reality, Tony’s Chocolonely will be one step closer to its goal: demonstrating that completely fair chocolate can also be produced and sold on a large scale.
