Mars is the first major chocolate manufacturer to put a candy bar on Washington County store shelves that carries a seal certifying it prohibits child slavery in its supply chain. The certification organization, Rainforest Alliance, also prohibits the use of GMO's, helps farmers develop sustainable practices, works for fair treatment and fair premiums for farmers and workers, protects rainforests and indigenous people, etc.
Mars Dove Dark Chocolate carries a Rainforest Alliance seal. It's here. It's on our shelves in our local, main stream drug stores, grocery stores, and other big box stores in our Upstate NY community.
For those of you who may want to reward and encourage this baby step, I thought you would want to know about it. Some people in the fair trade movement consider it significant when we see main stream manufacturers and retailers participating in the movement.
If you consider this a significant step in the right direction, buy it and let them know how you feel. On the back of the package is their phone number, email address, and website.
Look at the label carefully for the "little green frog". Not all Dove is certified. Only the dark chocolate.
Mars was one of the companies who signed the Harkin Engel Protocol in 2001 acknowledging the problem of forced child labor and other "worst forms of child labor" on cocoa bean farms. Mars made available fairly traded chocolate candy on stores shelves in the UK and in Australia before taking this move in the USA.
Several of our local stores also carry fair trade or Rainforest Alliance certified chocolate candy made by smaller companies, Green & Black's, Divine, Sweet Riot, Newman's Own, Shaman, and others.
Thank you Mars for making this important step and leading the way for other large manufacturers.
