Half the major agriculture, fishery and forestry sustainability standards fail to show they improve the environment or the lives of poor farmers, new report claims.
The confectionery world has become crowded by dark chocolate made with single-origin cocoa beans, but Fine & Raw Chocolate has found its niche competitiveness by switching to thinner bars at 4mm each.
London start-up Kaakao managed to overcome texture and flavour challenges when sweetening its chocolate with dates instead of sugar but the regulatory challenge - the EU definition of chocolate - is proving to be more difficult.
Following news of Anthony Bourdain's recent death, Good & Evil chocolate bars were suddenly pulled from its producer Éclat Chocolate’s website as owner Christopher Curtin said the decision was made out of respect towards the celebrity chef.
A raft of promises and reports were published on this year’s World Day Against Child Labor, highlighting the extent of forced labor in the cocoa industry with calls for greater transparency to help solve the problem.
The International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) has identified 14,986 child labor cases on the cocoa farms in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana since 2012, but warned the reality could be a lot worse.
Hershey increased the percentage of its sustainable cocoa beans to 75% and reduced its packaging waste by 18.5 million pounds, or 74%, in 2017, according the company’s latest corporate social responsibility report.
The Rainforest Alliance has issued science-based training materials customized for the specific cocoa-growing regions in Ghana since degrees to which those regions are affected by climate change vary.
The chocolate industry should support community-led buffer zones between tropical rainforest and cocoa farms to improve uneasy relations between farmers and their elephant neighbours, says a park manager in Ghana.
Ferrero is set to overhaul the recipes of Butterfinger and Crunch bars after creating a new business unit by merging its recently acquired Ferrara and Nestlé’s US candy portfolio later this year.
Far from being cocoa's poor cousin, carob powder is the ideal ingredient for healthy confectionery for kids, mimicking the "shine, snap and silky smooth texture" of milk chocolate without the stimulants caffeine and theobromine, says Supertreats...
UK food and drink manufacturers have fallen short of Public Health England’s 5% voluntary target for sugar reduction, achieving just 2% at the end of the first year.
Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) has secured $35m from the China Eximbank to build a cocoa processing plant, and now is seeking an additional $1.5bn to further aid its cocoa production.
Stable Micro Systems has developed a Powder Vertical Shear Rig for food manufacturers to measure the flowability of compacted powders, such as flour, cocoa powder and starch.
Mars Wrigley Confectionery aims to triple the global cocoa production volume in the next decade partly through developing better disease-resistant varieties, Frank Mars, member of the company's Board of Directors, recently said at the World Cocoa...
The president of the World Cocoa Foundation and Mondelēz’s Cocoa Life director discuss how the chocolate industry will tackle calls to guarantee cocoa farmers a living income.
Healthy chocolate startup FlavaNaturals has been testing its reception at various retail environments for the past four years: café, specialty stories, even yoga studios etc., but the company’s CEO Alan Frost has a bigger plan in mind for the coming fall...
Mondelēz, Cargill, Nestlé and Tony’s Chocolonely will discuss progress and challenges in implementing Child Labor Monitoring & Remediation Systems (CLMRS) in cocoa communities at a panel during the World Cocoa Conference.
Susquehanna International Group (SIG) said the robust chocolate industry will likely turn Hershey’s business around later this year even though the company is among ‘the worst performing CPG stocks in the last three months.’
Cocoa Life will start preventing child labor from Mondelēz’s cocoa farms in Côte d'Ivoire through its Child Labor Monitoring & Remediation Systems (CLMRS), after the program reached more farmers in 2017.
Barry Callebaut has posted a 37.5% net profit growth to CHF 173m ($181m) during the first half of fiscal year 2017/18 (six months up to February 28, 2018).
Claims such as ‘no added sugar’ on foods containing sweeteners are commonplace and an important part of healthy branding - but are they technically illegal under EU law? We put the question to a food law expert.
Environmental nonprofit Mighty Earth has found large chocolate companies have made 'very strong' commitments in policy and practices to reduce deforestation on their cocoa farms in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire but the level of engagement does...
Albertus Eskes and Dario Ahnert, cocoa breeders from agriculture research firm CIRAD and UESC has invented a fermentation technology called TropMix to help cocoa beans enhance its natural fruity flavors.
Dandelion Chocolate will produce one of the first single origin Sierra Leonean chocolates as the country's cocoa sector looks to attract the international premium chocolate market.
A California Superior Court judge has approved a settlement resolving claims over whether certain levels of lead and cadmium in chocolate require warning labels under California’s Prop 65 law.
Despite the escalating ‘war on sugar,’ including so-called sin taxes and manufacturers’ efforts to cut-back on the ingredient in some products, industry stakeholders remain confident sugar can hold its own against competing sweeteners and reduction efforts...
Barry Callebaut has launched its first Forever Chocolate pilot in Indonesia as it aims to improve the country’s cocoa production volumes and overall productivity.
Supermarkets in developed nations may soon introduce aisles dedicated to craft chocolate, similar to shelves devoted to fine wine, says Chocolat Madagascar.
The chocolate industry should report and reduce emissions in their cocoa logistics chain, which is contributing to air pollution and climate change, says The Smart Freight Centre.
Divine Chocolate has announced revenues of £14m ($20m) during the 2016-2017 period (17% YOY growth), the highest to date, with US sales passing $10m for the first time.
Chinese confectionery ingredient company Jiangsu Wuxi Taihu Cocoa Food Co is re-entering the finished chocolate products market, more than 10 years after selling that side of the business to Hershey's.
Barry Callebaut has extended its partnership with health-focused chocolate brand FlavaNaturals throughout 2018 to develop flavanol-rich products in the US.
The chocolate industry and supply chain actors recognize buying certified cocoa alone is not enough to make the supply chain sustainable. But what more needs to be done?
