Big Chocolate
Encyclopedia
"Big Chocolate" is a business term assigned to multi-national chocolate
food producers, much akin to the terms assigned to "Big Oil" and "Big Tobacco
".
According to fair trade
proponents including Ghana
ian cooperative Kuapa Kokoo
, "Big Chocolate" companies are Kraft
(after their purchase of Cadbury plc in March 2010), Mars
, Nestlé
, and The Hershey Company
. Together these companies process about 12% of the world's 3 million tons of cocoa each year.
At the core of the chocolate debate across Europe
, parts of Asia
and the United States
is the definition of chocolate itself, and whether percentages of cocoa
in production should render some candies unable to carry the chocolate food definition.
At issue also is the ability to replace cocoa butter
or dairy components of chocolate with cheaper vegetable fats or polyglycerol polyricinoleate
(PGPR), thereby reducing the quantity of actual cocoa in the finished product while creating an arguably more unhealthy confection. Currently the United States, some parts of the European Union
and Russia
do not allow vegetable fats as ingredients of products labeled as chocolate. The UK, Ireland
, and Denmark
allow vegetable fat as an ingredient.
"Big Chocolate" also refers to the political and social effects of a unifying industry. Consolidated buying enables large cocoa users to wield significant impact in economies, many of them poor African nations, that rely on cocoa production as a critical element of foreign trade.
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
food producers, much akin to the terms assigned to "Big Oil" and "Big Tobacco
Big Tobacco
Big Tobacco is a pejorative term often applied to the tobacco industry in general, or more particularly to the "big three" tobacco corporations in the United States: Philip Morris , Reynolds American and Lorillard...
".
According to fair trade
Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
proponents including Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
ian cooperative Kuapa Kokoo
Kuapa Kokoo
Kuapa Kokoo is a cocoa farmers' cooperative organisation, established in Ghana in 1993. It was formed following the Ghanaian government's liberalisation of internal cocoa marketing in 1992, which, farmers feared, would lead to the entry of private companies into the market with whom they would be...
, "Big Chocolate" companies are Kraft
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
(after their purchase of Cadbury plc in March 2010), Mars
Mars, Incorporated
Mars, Incorporated is a worldwide manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products with US$30 billion in annual sales in 2010, and is ranked as the 5th largest privately held company in the United States by Forbes. Headquartered in McLean, unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia,...
, Nestlé
Nestlé
Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...
, and The Hershey Company
The Hershey Company
The Hershey Company, known until April 2005 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hershey's, is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hershey's Chocolate World. It was founded by Milton S...
. Together these companies process about 12% of the world's 3 million tons of cocoa each year.
At the core of the chocolate debate across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, parts of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
is the definition of chocolate itself, and whether percentages of cocoa
Cocoa solids
Cocoa solids are the low-fat component of chocolate. When sold as an end product, it may also be called cocoa powder, cocoa, and cacao....
in production should render some candies unable to carry the chocolate food definition.
At issue also is the ability to replace cocoa butter
Cocoa butter
Cocoa butter, also called theobroma oil, is a pale-yellow, pure edible vegetable fat extracted from the cocoa bean. It is used to make chocolate, biscuits, and baked goods, as well as some pharmaceuticals, ointments, and toiletries...
or dairy components of chocolate with cheaper vegetable fats or polyglycerol polyricinoleate
Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate
Polyglycerol polyricinoleate , E476, an emulsifier made from castor bean oils, reduces the viscosity of chocolate and similar coatings and compounds. It works by decreasing the friction between the particles of cacao, sugar, milk, etc. present so they can flow more easily when melted. It is used at...
(PGPR), thereby reducing the quantity of actual cocoa in the finished product while creating an arguably more unhealthy confection. Currently the United States, some parts of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
do not allow vegetable fats as ingredients of products labeled as chocolate. The UK, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
allow vegetable fat as an ingredient.
"Big Chocolate" also refers to the political and social effects of a unifying industry. Consolidated buying enables large cocoa users to wield significant impact in economies, many of them poor African nations, that rely on cocoa production as a critical element of foreign trade.
See also
- Big BusinessBig BusinessBig business is a term used to describe large corporations, in either an individual or collective sense. The term first came into use in a symbolic sense subsequent to the American Civil War, particularly after 1880, in connection with the combination movement that began in American business at...
- Children in cocoa production
- Cocoa production in Côte d'IvoireCocoa production in Côte d'IvoireCôte d'Ivoire leads the world in production and export of the cocoa beans used in the manufacture of chocolate, supplying 46% of cocoa produced in the world. West Africa, collectively supplies nearly 70% of the world's cocoa crop, with Côte d'Ivoire leading production at 1.3 million tonnes,...
- Fairtrade labellingFairtrade labellingFairtrade certification is a product certification system designed to allow people to identify products that meet agreed environmental, labour and developmental standards. Overseen by a standard-setting body, Fairtrade International , and a certification body, FLO-CERT, the system involves...
- International Cocoa InitiativeInternational Cocoa InitiativeThe International Cocoa Initiative was created in 2002 as a result of a groundswell of opinion urging the chocolate industry to ensure child and forced labour were not used in the production of their products. An international protocol was signed in Washington, D.C...
Further reading
which cites Fair Trade Yearbook, 1994 and Cocoa Newsletter, No 3 for its information on Big Chocolate — MacDougall asks "is Big Chocolate to blame for the conditions of global chocolate production?"- Candyusa.com. Web. [
- The-infoshop.com. Global Information, Inc. Web. [
- The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars ISBN 0767904575