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Mondelēz to extend Cocoa Life logo to Milka chocolate in Europe

25-Apr-2018 - Last updated on 25-Apr-2018 at 10:08 GMT

The majority of Mondelēz's cocoa beans are now sourced via its Cocoa Life program. Pic: Mondelēz

Mondelēz will feature the logo of its sustainability program Cocoa Life on all Milka chocolate packaging in Europe, starting August 2018.

A number of Mondelēz’s brands have previously adopted the label, including Cadbury Dairy Milk in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland, Côte d’Or in Belgium, the Netherlands and France, Freia and Marabou in the Nordics and Oreo cookies across Europe, said the company.

Mondelēz did not disclose the percentage of its Cocoa Life-labeled products, but it has recently reduced the volume of its certified cocoa beans coming from other third-party certifications, such as UTZ and Fairtrade.

“We transitioned our brands to Cocoa Life,” Valerie Moens, Mondelēz’s spokesperson, previously told us. “Today, the vast majority [of our beans] comes from Cocoa Life.”

“It is our ambition to extend Cocoa Life to other brands in the future as we want to use our scale as one of the world’s largest chocolate makers to drive positive change for communities on which we depend,” she added.

Cocoa Life covered up to 120,500 farmers by the end of 2017, a 31% increase compared to 2016, according to its latest progress report. It also increased its sustainable cocoa sourcing to 35%, up 14% from 2016.

The program is expected to reach 200,000 farmers and one million people by 2022, said Mondelēz.