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Equal Exchange Raises the Chocolate Bar |
New Gourmet Organic Fairly Traded Chocolate Bars Offer Farmers A Better Deal, And Consumers A Feel-Good Indulgence
WEST BRIDGEWATER, MA—September 13th, 2004—Equal Exchange announces
today the introduction of their new line of three gourmet, organic,
fairly traded chocolate bars. These bars are distinct for combining the
famous Swiss standards for chocolate-making with the sourcing of
ingredients in the most socially and environmentally responsible manner
possible. The result is a win-win-win situation for chocolate lovers,
for small farmers, and for the Earth.
Equal Exchange, already the nation's leader in fairly traded specialty
coffee, is proud to offer this line of gourmet chocolate bars that
bring the benefits of Equal Exchange's Fair Trade model to thousands of
small-scale cocoa farmers in the Dominican Republic and Peru and to
small-scale sugar growers in Costa Rica and Paraguay.
Thanks to Fair Trade these farmers receive a higher, more reliable
price for their crops and gain critical support for their cooperatives
- a key to broad-based, sustainable economic development in their
communities. The Fair Trade certification system also guarantees for
the consumer that no exploited child labor or slave labor was used on
these farms, and that the standards of the International Labor
Organization have been upheld. This contrasts to the yet-unresolved
scandal involving child labor on West African cocoa farms, source of
70% of the world's cocoa.
In the U.S., food and beverages are Fair Trade Certified™ exclusively
by TransFair USA, an independent, non-profit monitoring organization
based in Oakland, California. www.transfairusa.org
100% of the ingredients, including the top grade cocoa beans, sugar,
milk powder, almonds, and vanilla, are certified organic. USDA
regulations for organic farming forbid the use of synthetic chemical
herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, fertilizers, or the use of any
genetically-modified crops. In Latin America, organic farming helps to
provide farmers with a safer, non-toxic working environment. Organic
cocoa farming also protects biodiversity and helps to maintain the
winter habitat for millions of migratory song-birds. In dairy
operations, organic certification forbids the use of bovine-growth
hormones and the use of animal by-products in cattle feed.
Immediately after harvesting, these criollo, forestero, and trinitario
cocoa beans are carefully fermented for six to ten days to bring out a
richer cocoa flavor. This step is skipped with cocoa destined for
mass-market products. The beans are then sun-dried for three days and
painstakingly hand-sorted to ensure the desired taste profile and
consistent quality.
DISTRIBUTION & BACKGROUND
Starting in October 2004 chocolate lovers will have three popular
varieties of the 3.5 ounce bars to choose from: Milk Chocolate (38%
cocoa); Dark Chocolate with Almonds (55% cocoa); and Very Dark
Chocolate (71% cocoa). The suggested retail price is $2.99 each.
The chocolate bars will be available to retailers nationwide on October
1st through America's largest distributor of natural foods, United
Natural Foods, Inc. www.unfi.com. On October 15th chocolate bars will
become available to individual shoppers through Equal Exchange's online
store (minimum order: one case of 12 bars) http://shop.equalexchange.com.
Since Equal Exchange helped introduce Fair Trade to the nation's
specialty coffee industry in 1986 Fair Trade has become an established
segment of the coffee market, with a reputation for high quality. In
recent years more than 200 U.S. coffee companies have adopted the
practice, at least in part, and nationally Fair Trade coffee sales have
been growing 60 to 100 percent annually. The Fair Trade model has also
recently been adopted for the import of premium tea, cocoa, and fresh
tropical fruits.
However, America's $13 billion chocolate industry has yet to adopt Fair
Trade, despite the ready availability of high quality Fair Trade cocoa,
and the industry's inability to date to resolve the continuing problems
regarding child labor in cocoa farming.
"We believe that our new line of chocolate bars provides a positive
example to others in the industry, and we hope that, through our
success, these bars will spur others to imitate our Fair Trade
model."
- Rob Everts, Equal Exchange co-executive director
These chocolate bars offer a unique, empowering model of global trade.
They represent the efforts of an employee-owned and controlled
cooperative, Equal Exchange, to bring a high quality, competitive
product to market and share the benefits of international trade as
equitably as possible. Eight small farmer cocoa, sugar and dairy
cooperatives in five countries, as well as a worker cooperative in
Canada, will participate directly in the success of these chocolate
bars.
Equal Exchange, the pioneer and U.S. market leader in Fair Trade coffee
since 1986, is a full service provider of high quality, organic coffee,
tea, cocoa powder, hot cocoa mix and chocolate to retailers and food
service establishments. Major customers include Kroger, Safeway,
Shaw's, Stop & Shop, and Hannaford supermarkets, natural food
stores, consumer food cooperatives, cafés and restaurants. 100% of
Equal Exchange products are fairly traded, benefiting 27 small farmer
cooperatives in 14 countries around the world. In keeping with its Fair
Trade mission Equal Exchange is a worker cooperative, owned and
democratically controlled by its employees.
Contact: Rodney North
rnorth@equalexchange.coop
50 United Drive, West Bridgewater, MA 02379 USA
774-776-7398
www.equalexchange.coop
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