Panorama - Chocolate: The Bitter Truth BBC1

[MollieO]

On now and from the write up I've read looks as if it may be a very interesting programme following production of chocolate, Fairtrade etc.

tragic interviews with the mums

I think it is utterly heartbreaking - 7 yr olds as slave labour.

Awful

Think I should have headed this thread - Chocolate - the child slave labour truth. Might have got more people watching. I won't be buying any Easter eggs.

Fascinating. unbelievable how those chocolate beans can't be traced back to the trafficked boys, those poor mothers.
Bet N*le are well and truly involved (*so I don't get deleted?)

Am watching

Am also watching. And really hoping they don't debunk Fairtrade.

She's just got really flustered, though, hasn't she?

I recall watching a Channel 4 programme on cocoa production a couple of years ago. There doesn't seem to have been any improvement at all despite 'big' names like Cy and Ne joining Fairtrade.

She's not convincing me and DH

Same difficulty of control/policing argument that I've heard before. No excuse at all.

it's difficult to know what they can do about child labour though - sure, we could pay more for our chocolate, but then the people using the illegal labour will carry on doing so, but will themselves be earning more, unless it's amazingly well policed. unlikely in west africa tbh.

seeing that wee boy reunited with his mum was tear jerking.

I think that the major buyers could do a lot more. Fairtrade has to do more. It is a difficult thing to do but not impossible.

For once I don't feel like eating chocolate

but what can they do more mollie?

my kids watched this with me. shocking. i thought when i bought fair trade it meant fair trade.

Better policing of the co-operatives for starters. More frequent audits. All requires money but with companies like C and N selling chocolate that is 'Fairtrade' the money is certainly there to do it.

Kitkats may be fairtrade on the cocoa but not the palm oil. That's still from unsustainable chopped-down rainforest.

Take a look at the GP vid

It will take 10 years for the rainforest to be destroyed enough to make the orang-utangs extinct. Nestle claim they'll stop using this palm oil in 2015... and Galaxy is the same...

But watching this film, it is talking about child labour farms supplying to fairtrade. Bear in mind that Fairtrade Foundation farms are strictly controlled and the constant audits will pick up those who aren't following the rules. The farmers will constantly try to undermine the rules and therefore the auditing will constantly be picking up people not following the rules. BUT the majority of the farms continue to follow the rules so buying Fairtrade chocolate means that you'll be almost certain that not only is it child labour free, but it follows the other Fairtrade rules:

• Paying at or above the market rate at all times
• Paying an additional premium at all times to put into paying for schools and social development.

On the other hand, buying non FT chocolate means that you're almost 100% certain to be buying chocolate made from child labour farms.

Buying regular chocolate of any kind means you're buying unsustainable palm oil as well. I recommend Green and Blacks (easy to get, but not THE most ethical chocolate, but they use only ethical ingredients), Booja Booja and Couverture. The latter two are palm oil free (proper cocoa butter is used) and they are very ethical.

Don't be put off Fairtrade. It's not perfect but it's a damned site better than the alternative.

If you are interested in joining the Nestle boycott or learning more please visit our facebook group:

www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=2299841105

Thanks Tangent, I've joined.

I'm on the hunt for a non-child labour milk chocolate Easter egg for ds .

Hi I watched the programme as well and I thought it had some important messages- we don't want to face the truth of how our food and clothes are produced but if we're not conscious of it then many are suffering for our pleasure. At the same time I didn't like the way the programme portrayed every time a child cut open a cocoa pod as 'slave labour'
In a rural community without schools available or families to poor to send them it's not so shocking that the children help their families on the farm.

What's more criminal and exploitative is the pittance the families will get paid for their cocoa that they've been struggling to produce. The parents aren't out to exploit their children and if they could get a fairer price for their goods I saw that most of them were investing as much as they could in their children's education but sometimes they just couldn't manage so the children would have to wait at home until they could afford to send them again. I've just returned from Ghana, volunteering in a farming village and the shadowy world they showed was almost unrecognisable compared with the warm, open community I lived with. If your interested in reading my review on my blog it's www.anobruniabroad.wordpress.com

Don't refuse to buy chocolate altogether but get fairtrade- it's a struggle and not perfect but things can't improve by magic overnight and things are progressing.

I think there is a big difference between children helping their families and children who are trafficked and working. Obviously any programme is going to highlight the worst bits otherwise they won't get the interest. However they did focus on those children who weren't with their family.

The issue is always about paying a fair price, whether it is food or clothing, and then ensuring that the producer gets a fair return.