By Taylor Ferry
After reports of labor abuses by major chocolate corporations recently surfaced, smaller businesses and some consumers are moving to purchase chocolate that meets Fair Trade standards for worker treatment and wages.
Unlike industry giants Mars, Hershey and Nestle -- accused of using child labor to collect cocoa beans in Africa's Ivory Coast -- smaller companies like Taza Chocolate, Yachana Gourmet and Equal Gourmet promote using fair trade practices to harvest their beans, reject child labor, pay fair wages and provide a sustainable income for cocoa farmers.
Fair Trade-certified chocolate began with Alternative Trade Organizations that eliminated middlemen so they could deal directly with indigenous farmers. Democratically run farmer co-ops produce fair trade chocolate in Latin America, Africa and Asia....