Chocolate may be one of those ‘guilty pleasures’, but now that 25% of the cocoa that Woolworths is sourcing for its boxed chocolate range is certified sustainable, you now have another reason for chocolate to make you feel good.
The recently launched Woolworths boxed chocolate range – which includes 13 different products for which UTZ Certified cocoa was purchased – marks the start of Woolworths support of sustainable chocolate. Why only 25%? Because there simply isn’t enough UTZ Certified cocoa available to meet our demand. However, it’s the first step on a journey that will see all Woolworths chocolates being made with certified sustainable cocoa by 2016.
“As part of our Good Business Journey, we are constantly looking to procure sustainably sourced ingredients,” says Woolworths Sustainability Manager, Justin Smith. “UTZ Certified is one of the world’s leading sustainability programmes for coffee, cocoa and tea. It’s a comprehensive programme that helps the farmers learn to improve the quality and yield of their cocoa while reducing their impact on the environment and enabling them to take better care of their workers and families.”
Farmers also learn business skills, and their operational management is audited by independent third parties. This ensures that if a raw material is UTZ Certified, you have the assurance that it has been grown and harvested responsibly.
not a fan of child labour
Another critical factor for Woolworths is that the UTZ Certified Codes of Conduct include explicit requirements that prohibit child labour based on International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions.
Says Smith, “Even though we are a small player in terms of the global market, we are still committed to working with the industry, independent organisations, international agencies and others to encourage sustainable practices in the cocoa industry. We want to help producers become more sustainable, improve the management of labour, protect the environment and ensure the commercial viability of their organisations.”
UTZ Certified Executive Director Han de Groot welcomes Woolworths efforts in this regard. “We are very pleased with Woolworths commitment to completely switch to UTZ Certified cocoa by 2016. With this step, Woolworths sets an example for the industry and more specifically companies in emerging markets to take responsibility in making sustainability the norm.”
What’s in the box?
If all this talk about chocolate has you ready to rush to Woolies, in addition to the satisfaction of knowing that they support sustainably farmed cocoa, here’s what you can look forward to enjoying:
Within the milk chocolate range you’ll find a rich buttery chewy toffee with roasted pecans, smooth creamy caramel fudge made with cream and butter, a soft nougat with honey and roasted almonds, delicious milk chocolate, an indulgent smooth chocolate truffle and a velvety creamy sticky soft caramel made with cream and butter in milk chocolate.
Other sublime morsels include smooth hazelnut praline with crispy rice, a smooth indulgent chocolate dome truffle, whole roasted hazelnuts, a smooth soft centre with delicate notes of orange, a whole roasted caramalised Brazil nut, and strawberry flavoured fondant studded with strawberry pieces in milk chocolate
The caramel toffee fudge chocolate range includes a creamy caramel millionaire truffle with crunchy caramel, a velvety creamy sticky soft caramel made with cream and butter, a soft raspberry flavoured caramel studded with raspberry pieces, a delicately salted soft caramel, a chewy buttery apple-flavoured toffee and a double chocolate fudge in milk chocolate. There’s more to look forward to as well, such as soft butterscotch flavoured caramel, rich buttery toffees, smooth caramel fudge made with cream and butter, and sticky caramel with crunchy biscuit pieces in milk chocolate.
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