As a cocoa industry giant, Mars Inc.’s commitment to take Fairtrade certification requirements seriously is a great step forward in the company’s accountability to consumers and producers alike.  It is also a call to action for other major chocolate companies to follow suit.  This was reiterated by several confectionary industry representatives at the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) meeting, who took Mars’ announcement as an indication that other companies should step up to the plate and consider adopting Fairtrade certification.  Vice President of Mars Global Chocolate, Barry Parkin, explained: "This agreement is a big step towards fulfilling our shared mission to empower farmers to build vibrant, sustainable livelihoods, and we're very excited to work with Fairtrade on ways to enable commodity certification to scale across the entire industry."  

International Labor Rights Forum has pressured Hershey for years to “raise the bar” and improve its cocoa sourcing practices, with no real progress from the company.  Now that Mars is making a commitment to ethical sourcing, this is the perfect opportunity for Hershey, an industry competitor, to prove that it, too, cares about its workers.

Details on this announcement can be found in the Mars’ press release.  More information on certification systems can be found at Free2Work.org. 

Julie is the Outreach Coordinator and Associate Researcher for Free2Work, an online resource for information on company’s supply chain policies and corporate practices.