Our Fairtrade Fortnight Easter egg taste test included eggs from a range of organisations. But what are their co-op connections?
Cocoa Loco’s milk chocolate Mr Funny Face and Little Choc Chicks are hand made, organic and Fairtrade. Both are made using single origin cocoa beans from the Conacada Cooperative in the Dominican Republic. Other products include bars, truffles, milk, dark and white buttons, brownies and cookies.
In 2002, the Co-operative became the first supermarket to switch its entire own brand chocolate bar range to Fairtrade. It now stocks Fairtrade wine, bananas, tea, coffee, sugar and many other products. During Fairtrade Fortnight this year its online platform Growing Stories – which enables shoppers to contact Fairtrade producers and donates money to a special fund – is doubling its support
Divine is a Fairtrade chocolate company 44% owned by cocoa farmers from the Kuapa Kokoo farmers co-operative in Ghana. Kuapa Kokoo was established in 1993 and set up a chocolate company four years later. It has invested Fairtrade premium and profits from Divine in farmer welfare, skills training and gender equality.
In 1994, Green & Blacks Maya Gold bar became the first ever chocolate bar to be awarded the Fairtrade Mark from the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK. Its chocolate is made with organic cocoa from the Toledo Cacao Growers Association co-operative in Belize and Green & Blacks have started a Belize Program to help provide management and farming, rehabilitate hurricane damaged crops and plant more cocoa trees.
The Meaningful Chocolate Company produces a range of chocolate bars and seasonal goods, all of which are Fairtrade certified. They also contribute to the Fairtrade Growers Premium and, through products such as the Real Easter Eggs, aim to rediscover a business tradition that values fairness and quality products.
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