Fair trade chocolate is a kind of chocolate that is made with ingredients that have been grown and sold in a manner that is environmentally sustainable and based on ethical and humane trading practices. Ensuring that the ingredients in the chocolate are grown and traded in such a manner often means that fair trade chocolate is more expensive than chocolate that is not certified to have been traded fairly. However, chocolate lovers who also happen to be environmentalists, humanitarians, or both often prefer to spend the extra money for fair trade chocolate in order to support the ecological and social benefits that fair trade products promise.
There have been a number of abuses surrounding the cultivation, harvesting, and sale of chocolate. Some of those abuses include the employment of child laborers and abusive labor conditions. Also, there have been reports of cocoa and chocolate companies purchasing chocolate at such a low price that the farmers are left impoverished and unable to fulfill their families' basic needs.
Fair trade ensures that the farmers are paid a price that allows them to take care of their families. It also ensures that the labor conditions the surround the farming of the chocolate are humane and do not employ the forced labor of children. Finally, fair trade chocolate also ensures that the products are grown in a manner that is sustainable for the land.
There are a number of products that are sold as part of the fair trade movement. In addition to fair trade chocolate, there is also fair trade cotton, coffee, tea, sugar, honey, wine, cocoa, and some kinds of fruit. There are also fair trade handicrafts and knick knacks. Most fair trade products are the kinds of products that are grown in developing countries and exported to developed countries.
Fair trade chocolate can be found in many grocery stores but is most commonly found in health food stores and food co-ops. Many kinds of fair trade chocolate are packaged for retail sale and consumption. There are also kinds of fair trade chocolate that can be purchased in bulk by restaurants and bakeries for use in their products. Furthermore, there are a number of companies that sell their products on the web that include fair trade chocolate in their product line. It is common for these kinds of businesses to also sell other kinds of fair trade products such as coffee and tea.
