Nestlé has released a series of deforestation guides for commodity sourcing in partnership with Conservation International, to give a clearer idea of where deforestation is occurring globally.
A 10,000 ton shipment of fertilizer arrived in the principal cocoa growing nation Ivory Coast today as part of an industry-backed initiative to double productivity on cocoa farms.
A Rainforest Foundation ethical food product guide based on companies’ palm oil use unjustly discourages the use of palm oil even if it is sustainably sourced, claims the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
Mars Chocolate promises to assess conditions for women cocoa farmers and will sign up to the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles after Oxfam accused it of neglecting gender inequality.
The EU’s sugar quota fell three million metric tons short of demand in 2012 leading to an 11% price hike, but the deficit is not expected to increase due to stagnant demand for sugar-based foods and health concerns, according to market analysts Euromonitor...
ConfectioneryNews.com examines the sustainable cocoa commitments of one of the leading premium chocolate makers, Lindt, after it announced a big charitable investment last week.
Hershey has called attacks on its text messaging tips for farmers program CocoaLink “disingenuous” after a group of NGOs questioned the effectiveness of the project.
The industry has pledged $10m in new funds since 2010 to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, but a newly released report says the job is far from over.
Lindt & Sprüngli’s operating profit rose 10.3% in 2012 and the company has declared itself “partially unaffected” by the continuing economic downturn as consumers still seek quality chocolate in tough times.
Oxfam has called on the three biggest chocolate manufacturers to conduct independent audits on conditions for women on cocoa farms supplying their factories after finding evidence of unequal pay, discrimination and hunger.
Oxfam will step up its campaign to improve the treatment of people and resources that form part of the supply chain of the world’s biggest food conglomerates, after it cast industry responses to its damning Behind the Brands report as ‘bland’ and ‘complacent’.
Unilever and Nestlé say Oxfam missed an opportunity for a wider and more comprehensive debate about food ethics after the NGO published a damning report on the supply chains of the world’s biggest food firms this week.
Associated British Foods – worst-in-class in an Oxfam report critical of 10 food giants for essentially operating under a corporate social responsibility (CSR) “veil of secrecy” – has hit back, slamming the report ‘s findings as “ridiculous”.
The Philippines can evolve as a top-quality cocoa source and serve the needs of growing demand for chocolate in Asia, according to a start-up company trading beans in the market.
Working from beans to chocolate or farmer to consumer brings with it a lot of advantages – including strong sector knowledge and the ability to identify and respond to market trends, says Cémoi.
Confectionery can overcome its unhealthy and industrially-produced image by marketing the authenticity of products and doing more to engage consumers, says the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI).
Barry Callebaut has unveiled new cocoa and chocolate products at ISM in Cologne, including Cameroon origin cocoa for baked goods, and single origin chocolate from Cameroon and Java.
Barry Callebaut has announced that it is switching to Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified palm oil for compounds and filling at most plants.
The chocolate industry is behind in tackling some cocoa supply issues and must work more closely to avert shortages, according to Mars’ head of sustainability.
We look back at the biggest news of this year including groundbreaking innovations, the push towards sustainable cocoa, and the launch of a new confectionery titan.
The Hershey Company has joined the advisory council of a new non-profit organization – the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) - that aims to develop industry-wide standards on sustainability.
Barry Callebaut’s joint venture cocoa partner Biopartenaire is now Rainforest Alliance Certified - a move that forms part of a wider puzzle of efforts towards sustainability, it said.
Action on sustainable cocoa must happen in two years, not ten and requires a holistic approach far beyond simple certification and increased production, the editor of a new report says.
Nestlé has opened an extended product technology center for confectionery in the UK, which will better enable it to develop products and packaging with sustainable materials.
The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has urged Cargill to take clear, decisive action to ensure its palm oil suppliers commit to sustainable production, while Cargill has said that RAN allegations of malpractice are unfounded and untrue.
Greenpeace has published a scorecard rating palm oil producers’ sustainability efforts, in order to provide food and other consumer goods companies with better information about how their palm oil is produced.
Modern consumers want the best of all worlds when it comes to bakery and chocolate products, with quality & price, local & global, tradition & innovation, and pleasures & health existing together, according to results of a global survey...
Cargill has extended its sustainable cocoa program to Indonesia and plans to take preventative measure to turn ailing crops into high cocoa yielding money-spinners.
UTZ Certified has said it will aim for half of the world’s coffee, tea and cocoa to be produced sustainably by 2022, at a tenth anniversary seminar held in Amsterdam this week.
The Hershey Company has told this site that it plans to work with multiple organizations to meet its recent pledge to use only certified cocoa by 2020, and will communicate progress in annual reports.
Big Interview: Dave McLaughlin, World Wildlife Fund
Food manufacturers are beginning to realize that buying more GreenPalm certificates now might be the only way to stimulate enough production of sustainable palm oil to make fully traceable products economically viable in future, says the World Wildlife...
The Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform is making headway in preventing cocoa and coffee crop losses, improving supply and yields for manufacturers.
Armajaro Trading is showing ‘genuine commitment’ to cocoa labour issues by becoming the first cocoa trader to join the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), says the foundation.
The association of chocolate, biscuit and confectionery industries of Europe (CAOBISCO) has been discussing a multi-stakeholder approach to improving working conditions in hazelnut orchards in Turkey and boosting supply.
An investigation from the Fair Labor Association (FLA) has unearthed multiple serious violations of Nestlé’s supplier code, particularly through the use of children on cocoa farms.
Nestlé has denied allegations that it violated its commitments on advertising to children by co-branding a new range of candy bars with the Girl Scouts of the USA.
Partnerships will be crucial in tackling the supply chain challenges in the surging cocoa and chocolate industry – this was the key message at Barry Callebaut’s Chocovision conference.
