Supports shipping to:
- Netherlands (no shipping required)
- UK (no shipping required)
- Germany
- Austria
- Norway (no shipping required)
- Finland (no shipping required)
- Belgium
- Romania (no shipping required)
Non EU:
- US (hawaii too)
- Australia,
- Puerto rico
Here’s their promise to never use forced labour for their cocoa.
There’s also the Tony’s open chain: a pledge by many companies (not just eu, also us) to use only ethically sourced cocoa. The companies are: here
I was under the impression that Tony’s is working towards a chocolate industry without child labor and forced labor. But the issue is quite complex and they’re not there yet.
Not saying they’re bad. It seems that they’re doing what they can and according to their website they “lead by example”. But I’m not sure if they make any promises about a 100% child labor / forced labor free supply chain at this moment.
The above could be outdated, maybe they’ve achieved their objectives for their own supply chain already. But I can’t find it on their website atm.
Previously they claimed no slave labor for many years.
They audited their supply chain every year, but eventually found that no matter the claims of their suppliers and auditors, they were finding instances of child labor.
So they’ve updated their stance and are actively working to change the industry
Here’s an article from 2022 covering the issue
I think it used to say “as little slavery as possible” or something like that but I don’t see that written out anymore, just implied.
From the inside of one I just opened:
Also
lead by example
https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/
mfw
It used to say “slave free” (yes, without a hyphen because apparently they know better than 4 translators) but now it says they try to be as slave free as possible.
No I think they were pretty open about it themselves. Don’t watch John Oliver tbh 😅.
I love Tony’s, but they’re also reportedly higher in lead content than other brands.
https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/
Valrhona is a solid non-American brand pick from the list of safer chocolate and they’re B-Corp certified. I believe their parents company is French.
When it comes to chocolate you’re often forced to pick your poison, so to speak.
This is for dark chocolate only, and the article has them listed as one of the lowest lead brands. Crazy that they’re all so high though, WTF!
I love Tony’s, but they’re also reportedly higher in lead content than other brands.
Yes, that is because cocoa plants absorb heavy metals from the soil. Tony probably has a higher lead content because they simply use more cocoa. That’s something you can also see if you compare dark chocolate with milk chocolate - dark chocolate will have more lead because more cocoa is used.
The amount of lead is also not a biggie - you’d have to eat such an insane amount of chocolate that you’d die of the sugar intake WAY earlier than from the lead exposure.
1: It’s thought to be contamination from the manufacturing and shipping process, as far as I know.
2: There is no safe level of lead intake, and it’s not about lethal dosage. The numbers used are California’s extra-paranoid metrics however. That doesn’t make them wrong, just be aware that you’re being poisoned in so many other ways as well you might as well have some chocolate now and again, it probably won’t be the thing that gives you Alzheimer’s. But it might! You’ll never know! Or remember…
3: Tony’s is still better because all the others are just as bad but with slavery.
I mean, their 70% cocoa clocks in at 134% the mentiomed safe limit while the 80% cocoa from mast is at 14% (both reportedly for 1 oz of chocolate) according to the previously linked data. If the main determinant was the amount of cocoa, than I would have expected 80% to be higher.
Of course a company could be lying about the cocoa %, or using some type of filler, etc. But it seems plausible that there might be other causes. For example, perhaps some cocoa plantation locations have more lead in their soil, etc.
Tony’s did actually respond to CR, claiming these are not food safety standards. They did not appear to mention why their chocolate had any different levels of lead than other companies, just that leaf is absorbed from the soil.
Lead and cadmium come from cocoa plants. Tony’s might have more because it has a higher cocoa percentage
Also it’s pretty good. I didn’t know I liked milk chocolate, because Hershey’s is disgusting. Tony’s is objectively a better tasting product.
Well there’s your problem, in the Netherlands (and other places) Hershey milk ‘chocolate’ isn’t legally chocolate. It needs at least 35% cacao to be called chocolate. It would be called ‘Cacao fantasy’ here instead. So no wonder you think it’s shit chocolate, cause it isn’t chocolate to begin with
Hershey’s chocolate has butyric acid, which is also found in vomit. The acid is allegedly a byproduct, but it helps stabilize the chocolate and prevent it from melting. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hersheys-chocolate-tastes-like-vomit_l_60479e5fc5b6af8f98bec0cd
No, it’s because there’s some biproduct to how they process the chocolate that I think tastes bad to people who didn’t grow up eating it. As an American, I think I can taste the slightly sour note in Hershey’s that I don’t taste in other chocolates but my brain has had enough exposure to it that it doesn’t taste vomit-y so I don’t mind it (lol.) Don’t get me wrong, it’s not good quality by any means but to me it’s like the difference getting a burger from McDonald’s vs at a nice restaurant. Not often, but there’s time and place where getting McDonald’s fucking hits.
That’s like saying “I didn’t know I liked olives because faeces from people who have eaten olives is disgusting”. Hershey’s is widely hated for a reason, it shouldn’t be legal to sell.
I didn’t know I liked milk chocolate, because Hershey’s is disgusting.
Hershey’s is someone LARPing chocolate making. It’s pure disgusting. How people have been eating it for so long is beyond me.
Some of us grew up thinking that was chocolate. Have pity, rather than disdain.
The lies your government have fed you since you were a child are hard to forget. But join us, in the real chocolate world, my child, and we will embrace you with open arms.
Fucking woke BS, ChIlD sLaVeRy. Let the childern work, we need Chocolate!
/s
It basically is. Back in 2005, when inspecting cocoa plantations used for example by Nestlé, they found six-year-olds bought as slaves climbing the trees with baskets and harvesting cocoa using machete-like big knives that regularly caused the children to lose their hands or arms, in which case the child was thrown away and a new one was bought to replace it. Children were observed with scars in their shoulders half a centimetre (about ¼ inch) deep from carrying heavy baskets attached to their shoulders by ropes.
To my knowledge, this has not changed in the last 20 years, except that nowadays there are quite many slavery-free chocolates available, so the number of those plantations has probably decreased?
Chocolate comes from slaves, and the slaves are essentially hunted.
FYI: Check if whatever brand you like also works with Tony’s for their supply chain. For example Jumbo (NL supermarket) sources their chocolate from Tony’s and there’s quite a lot more partners.
