Barry Callebaut has partnered with retailer Albert Heijn and Dutch confectionery company Tony’s Chocolonely to tackle child labour in the chocolate industry.
Together the companies aim to set a new standard that increases pressure on the wider chocolate industry to drive structural change and work towards a more equally divided cocoa chain.
Tony’s Chocolonely shares full details of its transparent supply chain under Tony’s Open Chain – an open-source platform where chocolate companies can access the information needed to eliminate social issues from their own supply chains.
Dutch retailer Albert Heijn is the first company to sign up for Tony’s Open Chain.
The companies said Barry Callebaut has enabled the partnership to take place through its knowledge of processing segregated cocoa to chocolate.
Barry Callebaut CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique said: “This is a giant step for the chocolate industry, and an important move towards making sustainable chocolate the industry standard by 2025.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to collaborate with both the biggest retailer in the Netherlands and a company as committed to its slave-free mission as Tony’s Chocolonely, and we look forward to expanding this success story through our logistical expertise.”
Tony’s Chocolonely chief chocolate officer Henk Jan Beltman added: “Together we make more impact. I’m thrilled that Albert Heijn and Barry Callebaut are joining us on our roadmap towards slave-free chocolate.
“We have always aimed to be exemplary and inspire others to act. Today our impact is bigger than our chocolate alone. We’re certain that this is just the first step on the journey to change the industry – together make chocolate 100% slave-free.”
Albert Heijn will source cocoa for its Delicata brand made exclusively from fully traceable cocoa, bought at a higher price from Tony’s Chocolonely partner cooperatives in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The chocolate will go on sale in March 2019.
As well as the Netherlands, Tony’s Chocolonely products are on sale in the US, Germany, Belgium and Scandinavia.
The announcement follows on from Barry Callebaut’s ‘manifesto’ of promises, announced in 2016, which are designed to make the company’s chocolate 100% sustainably sourced by 2025.
