My Chocolate Bar and Other Foods

My Chocolate Bar and Other Foods — page 1 — Why buy Fairtrade foods How often do you look at the packaging on the foods that you eat Have you ever noticed a mark or logo that shows the product has been produced fairly such as the FAIRTRADE Mark What does the FAIRTRADE Mark mean The FAIRTRADE Mark was first added to food products such as cocoa tea and sugar in 1994 The FAIRTRADE Mark shows that the product has been certified by the Fairtrade Foundation The Fairtrade Foundation is a member of Fairtrade International and its mark lets buyers know that the food has been sourced from farmers involved in Fairtrade practices In this book Fairtrade spelled with a capital F refers to Fairtrade Foundation Fairtrade International or FAIRTRADE Mark products For a product to carry the FAIRTRADE Mark its ingredients must abide by Fairtrade practices That means the sugar in a chocolate bar and ingredients such as vanilla dried fruit or nuts are Fairtrade too 4 This is a FAIRTRADE Mark It shows that the product is certiﬁed and the farmers and workers involved in producing it were treated fairly and were paid a fair price

My Chocolate Bar and Other Foods — page 2 — How do fair trade organizations help Big companies make huge profits selling us food but the small farmers and workers who produce the food often struggle to earn a living Fair trade organizations throughout the world such as the Fairtrade Foundation in the United Kingdom Fairtrade America Fairtrade Canada and the independent Fair Trade U S A are non-profit groups that help farmers cooperatives and local communities in developing countries to build better lives and protect the environment USA China Central America Costa RicaBrazil South America Paraguay Uruguay Colombia The Caribbean Dominican Republic Belize Africa Ghana Ivory Coast Malawi Zambia India Sri Lanka Kenya Ethiopia Japan Malaysia France Germany Poland Indonesia UK This map shows the places mentioned in this book that are involved with Fairtrade food and use the logo shown on the opposite page This book uses many terms to describe fair trade Here are some helpful descriptions fair trade Trade or the sale of food and products in which fair prices are paid to the people who produce them in developing countries fair trade certiﬁcation A guarantee that a product you buy in stores has been farmed and produced according to a fair trade organization’s rules Fairtrade Foundation A United Kingdom-based charity that helps farmers and producers get a fair deal for their work It is a part of Fairtrade International and uses the FAIRTRADE Mark certiﬁcation Fairtrade International An organization of producer groups and 25 fair trade organizations from around the world Fair Trade Certiﬁed The trademark label of Fair Trade U S A an independent fair trade organization in the United States fairly traded Some smaller independent fair trade organizations use the term fairly traded on their certiﬁcation labels to note that their products have been traded in a fair or ethical manner Canada Mexico Australia 5

My Chocolate Bar and Other Foods — page 3 — Chocolate Almost 72 billion worth of chocolate is produced and sold each year It is made from the cocoa bean Where does cocoa grow Cocoa is used to make chocolate It comes from the cocoa bean which grows inside a large pod or fruit Cocoa trees thrive in hot wet tropical rain forests These trees first grew in South America and still grow there today but now 70 percent of the world’s cocoa is grown in Africa Between them the West African countries of Ghana and the Ivory Coast produce over 2 2 million tons 2 million metric tons of cocoa a year seed pod cocoa beans Cocoa beans grow on trees in huge cocoa farms Before they are made into chocolate the beans taste very bitter 6

My Chocolate Bar and Other Foods — page 4 — How is cocoa turned into chocolate Workers harvest the cocoa pods by cutting them open with sharp knives and taking out the beans On small farms the beans are left to ferment by wrapping them in banana leaves On bigger farms they have different ways of fermenting the beans such as leaving them in wooden boxes The beans are then dried in the sun The dried beans are collected and shipped to the chocolate manufacturer There the beans are roasted and turned into a paste butter or powder The manufacturer mixes these with sugar milk and other ingredients to make chocolate Reuse recycle For every ton 0 9 metric ton of cocoa 11 tons 10 metric tons of cocoa husks go to waste A British paper manufacturer has come up with a way to use those husks by turning them into chocolate wrappers Cocoa beans are made into liquid chocolate at a factory before being turned into chocolate bars 7

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