The Dark Side Of Chocolate

Human trafficking and child abuse are major problems along the west coast of Africa. Cocoa plantations are so notorious for the use of forced child labor (and forced adult labor) that U.S. Representative Eliot Engel and Senator Tom Harkin created a protocol to end child slavery and initiate labeling for products that are produced “slave free.” A joint committee was formed and called the International Cocoa Initiative, with the aim to have a

Human trafficking is as described by Wikipedia as the illegal trade in humans for the use of sexual exploitation or forced labor.

Bottling of freshwater from a rare resource in the Fiji Islands, and harvesting of cocoa beans via child slave labor in West Africa, are both ethically questionable. Business practices from both commodities have little regard on damages inflicted during their production. Ethical issues, similarities, and differences with both commodities will be contrasted, a presentation of socially responsible

Many of the products that are used and consumed in the United States are made in other countries. One of the main reasons for multinational corporations to produce goods in countries other than the United States is the cost of production. It is far cheaper to produce goods such as blue jeans, paper goods, and plastic toys to name a few. In recent years the conditions in sweatshops in China, Japan, and elsewhere have garnered public outcry from Countries like the U.S. and most of Europe. The main contention, child labor in dangerous and horrid conditions. However one often overlooked example of child labor in sweatshop-like conditions exists were many people never thought. The chocolate we eat. “From 2013 to 2014 more than 1.1 million children in the Ivory Coast were engaged in the most common Worst Forms of Child Labor as recognized by the United Nations… up from 791,181 children from 2008 to 2009” (Berman, 2015). The benefactors of this child labor are huge multinational enterprises such as Nestle, Mars Inc., and The Hershey Co.

This may not be considered disturbing to some with the great strides that Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) have made over the past years, but in 1998, this segment had teenage boys freaking out.

Human trafficking is the trade of humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual \slavery, and forced labor. Forms of human trafficking dates back to at least to the 1400’s. In the 1400s through the 1600s the first signs of human trafficking were seen. The African slave trade is an example of a form of human trafficking. During the slave trade Africans were captured and sold

As mentioned earlier, 70% of cocoa beans come from plantations in western African countries. However, most workers on these plantations are child slaves who are abused, not paid, and confined to grueling labor for years and years. Many of these unfortunate children aren’t over the age of sixteen yet they are forced to work from dusk till dawn. To add to this, there are a great amount of dangerous throughout the plantation. These include exposure to toxic, agricultural chemicals on the cocoa beans, being forced to use dangerous machetes in work, and being crushed by hundred pound bags of packed cocoa beans. The conditions that they live in are no better either. From sleeping on planks of wood as a bed to being fed the bare minimum of the cheapest food, most of these children don’t even receive basic education. One of the worst parts of this tragedy is that chocolate companies know what is happening yet they continue to receive cocoa from child slaves, and then they sell the public this deplorable

I believe you can interpret the chocolate as a metaphor for God in this movie. If the goal of the film is indeed trying to use the chocolate as a metaphor for God, I think that the film is trying to show God in a more spiritual way than religious. This is because each characters experience with the chocolate is different and personal. Every character prefers a different type, and the chocolate affect the characters in diverse, but positive ways. Armande becomes more content with her life, Josephine gets the courage to leave her abusive husband and stay away from him, the mayor eventually accepts Vianne and her differences from the old ways of the village. The religious side of God is shown through the Church, the rules it imposes, and the influence

The early stages of making chocolate are done by children, mostly ages 12 to 16, who have been captured and trafficked. These children have been taken from their families in countries such Mali and Burkina Faso and sold to cocoa farms. The children undergo terrible working conditions which exposes them to harsh chemicals. Some are often the victims of mental, physical and or sexual abuse. (Huschke 2011)

Chocolate is the one of the famous snack in the world and consumed by a lot of consumers all around the world. Chocolate is made from cacao beans and cacao beans are produced by smallholder farmers. Most of the world’s cacao beans comes from West Africa, mostly the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire more than 40% of the world’s cacao beans. The cacao beans they grow sold to the most of the chocolate company. I found out the cacao beans may be the result of unfair labor, child labor and the slave. In the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, there is about 800,000 children are working at the cacao farm. These children are forced to work under such harsh condition due to reason such as economic factors, political factors ,and/or kidnaping. A survey on child labor

Some of the world’s largest chocolate giants, and very familiar, almost comforting names, such as Hershey, Mars, and Nestle are heavily dependent on West African Cocoa Farmers. When we ignorantly purchase chocolates from these companies, we sentence millions of children to a life of misery.[PAUSE-MORE OPTIMISTIC] In choosing companies who produce fair trade chocolate, such as, Cadbury, we can improve the lifestyles of entire communities.

Chocolate is one of the most popular snack in the. Chocolate is made of cacao. And the cacao is produced most quantity in the Ivory Coast. Miklos Mattyasovszky said “The Ivory Coast supplies 1,448,992 tones which are 30 percent of the world’s total cocoa” (2017). 30 percent is huge proportion. But there is a problem with the large amount of cocoa production. The problem is Chocolate Slavery. Chocolate Slavery means labor force to children illegally. They do not get paid for their work. They have been abusing in cacao plantation. Children illegal labor has been discovering in most of chocolate producing countries, including Ivory Coast. The Chocolate Slavery was discovered in the early 1900s first in the West African coast (Doody, 2013).

Taren and Bruinsma’s article focuses on the drug-like characteristics of chocolate. It discusses how chocolate can attribute to addictive behaviors and why this occurs. First, the idea of chocolate being addictive is addressed. The “urgent inner demand overrides all others, undermines reason, resolve, and will…It does not stop until satisfied. And then, it starts again (Bruinsma & Taren, 1999).” This behavior is associated with heavier drugs such as cocaine, alcohol, and heroin but were observed in people who craved chocolate. From observations, researchers gathered that when a person had a craving for chocolate it gave them negative moods and substitutions would not completely satisfy the craving. They used white-chocolate, magnesium supplements, and other fatty sweet foods. White chocolate is used as a substitute because it mimics texture and sweetness while magnesium supplements are used because chocolate is high in magnesium. Other fatty foods were used because fat and sugar are normally associated with human pleasure for food consumption and are key ingredients to chocolate. Though some of the substitutes showed signs of satisfaction, they never completely satisfied the craver. One of the reasons for this phenomena is the chemical nature of chocolate. Chocolate contains a relatively high amount of serotonin which is responsible for the regulation of food-intake and mood. A person who craves chocolate is possibly trying to balance their body’s low level of serotonin the

Information concentrating on the effects that chocolate have on the improving the memory of test takers. Most of the collected works comes from revisions of men and women with excessive high memory levels; in calculation to a few surveys with individuals with memory loss were used. Given that eating chocolate improved test scores considerably many agents and health professionals have speculated if chocolate is a treatment for memory boost. The possibility of memory boost seems likely in short term is a particularly primary treatment for loss of memory. However, a thorough investigation of test were taken to see if men and women memory improves after eating chocolate before taking math test. This is usually done between two and three hours before a test is taken (Jones, Wilson, 2011).Collected works from Wong, et al 2009, have provided us with some perceptions on the effect chocolate have on men and women concerning memory gain.

Chocolate. Ah, just the word makes one’s mouth water. Sweet, velvety, creamy, delicious. Most of us really only care about the taste, but do we actually know what chocolate is made of? Yes, yes, milk, cocoa, cream, and sugar are all correct answers, but, do most of us know what chocolate is made of on a molecular level? I think not. Do we know why we feel happy after eating it, chocolate tastes the way it does, why some types are creamier and smoother than others, etc. The answer all boils down to chemistry; a simple answer, yet complicated for many reasons.