Date of publication: September 17, 2010
Source: IPS News
Author: Peter Boaz
By Peter Boaz
...For the last decade, U.S. chocolate companies have been pressured to take responsibility for abuses in their supply chains. Competing companies like Cadbury/Kraft, Mars and Nestle have made efforts to combat poor conditions in cocoa- growing countries. But Hershey, which claims 42.5 percent of the U.S. chocolate market, has been slow to initiate adequate measures against abuses, the report says.
Prepared by Global Exchange, Green America, the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), and Oasis USA, it criticises Hershey's continued refusal to identify cocoa suppliers. This "lack of transparency" makes it impossible for outside observers to verify the conditions on the farms, the groups say...