Appendix (whitakers)

Appendix (Whitakers) The production manager (I think) from Whitakers called me back later day. He said Whitakers doesn’t have Fair Trade certification because to achieve it they would have to source all their ingredients from Fair Trade certified suppliers. He used the example of sugar which Whitakers currently sources from Australia, where labour laws are sufficient to ensure that workers and suppliers are guaranteed fair pay. If they were to shift to Fair Trade certified chocolate they would need to source their products from Costa Rica or somewhere similarly distant. He told me that Whitakers sources its cocoa from Ghana and is part of several initiatives that claim to aim towards fair trade practices in cocoa production. These include: International Cocoa Initiative which is an industry funded group which includes some of the world’s largest food multinationals and all the major chocolate producers. From their website: The ICI is governed by a foundation board and its work is implemented and supervised by a secretariat based in Geneva, Switzerland. The ICI is primarily funded by contributions from cocoa industry board members; however the decisions on programme direction and emphasis are made by the board as a whole. ICI’s membership is listed below: Barry Callebaut, Cadbury Schweppes, Dignité (a trade union based in Cote d'Ivoire), Education International, European Cocoa Association, Ferrero, Free the Slaves, Global March Against Child Labour, Hershey Foods, International Confectionery Association, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers Associations (IUF), Kraft Foods, Mars Incorporated, Nestlé, US National Consumers League, WAO Afrique and Toms. Mr. P. Gillioz (Swiss Lawyer) is also member of the ICI.

(That’s my underlining in the first paragraph.) World Cocoa Foundation. Graduates of WCF-supported farmer field schools report income improvements of 22–55 percent or more, through improved cultivation and marketing practices.