“The product you are holding has no label.
It does not guarantee that there was no child labor.
Fortin Bley runs a cocoa cooperative in Ivory Coast and you know the product that is shown to him on video: it's a Kinder Surprise.
“There is no control over how the cocoa was produced or who produced it,” he continues.
There is no traceability, there is nothing!
»Sad irony: when he is called, it is 7.45 am in Abidjan.
Children then probably leave their homes to go to work on the plantations and produce the raw material that will delight other children, French them, a few hours later to taste it.
"In my cooperative, we have identified 400 child workers, admits Fortin Bley, whose cooperative is certified fair trade by the Max Havelaar association.
The Max Havelaar Fairtrade system allows us to put in place strategies so that those of school age can enter the school system.
"
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And to show us around, still in video, the building and the classroom of the Adjekonakro school.
“It was built in particular thanks to the development bonus.
Fair trade guarantees, per kilo, a minimum price for producers, 1000 CFA francs at the moment, and a premium of 141 CFA francs.
When you find the Max Havelaar Fairtrade logo on a package, you can be sure that the cocoa has been produced in the right conditions.
"
Kinder sources "sustainable", but not always "fair"
And this logo, once again, we do not find it on Kinder Surprise or any other Kinder.
Contacted by email, the parent company, the Ferrero group, replied: "In 2021, we have reached our goal of sourcing 100% sustainable cocoa (which does not mean" fair ", Editor's note), by the through different certification systems and the like.
"He then specifies the certification bodies:" Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade (Max Havelaar, Editor's note) and others
(sic)
".
For their part, the two mentioned NGOs confirmed that they guaranteed the supply of part, but only part, of the cocoa of Ferrero, which manufactures the Kinder Suprise.
Under these conditions, one can still wonder if the children really worked to produce the cocoa of Kinder Surprise.
"It seems obvious to me," responds categorically, Julie Stoll, general delegate of the Fair Trade France association.
Poverty is endemic among cocoa farmers and to get out of it, they send their children to work in the fields instead of going to school.
Today, Ferrero does not have the means to go and check, to trace all their cocoa, to make sure that there are no children in the fields.
"
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It should also be noted that the standards of the NGO Rainforest Alliance, which works with Ferrero, are not high enough according to Fair Trade France.
Currently, the only fair trade alternative to Kinder Surprise is called Ponchito: it is a small surprise egg labeled Fairtrade Max Havelaar sold in organic stores.
A lot of sugar
We bought one at the cash desk of a Naturalia in Marseille and gave it a blind taste at a Marseille chocolate maker who herself transforms her cocoa beans into chocolate.
Next to him, on the table, is the Kinder Surprise.
“I eat sugar.
There is absolutely no bean taste, ”comments Claire Hollender, owner of La Baleine à Cabosse, when she has just bit into a piece of Ponchito.
"There, I smell more milk," she continues of the Kinder Surprise.
And then it's just sugar again.
»She specifies:« There is more sugar than in the previous one.
»His preference nonetheless goes to the fair trade Ponchito (€ 2.50 per unit), which contains 47% sugar.
“It is not because we have to make children happy that we have to make them eat a piece of sugar, whether the product is fair or not.
»And the Kinder Surprise (€ 1.15 per unit, sold in a box of three)?
It beats the Ponchito: 52% sugar!
“I think the manufacturers are making a good margin,” comments the taster.
What is expensive are the cocoa beans, not the sugar and milk.
As for surprises?
The Ponchito hides a small wooden toy and the Kinder Surprise a plastic princess figurine.
“At least the Ponchito is made from a more durable material,” observes Claire Hollender.
It is true that labeled products cost more and that they are still very rare on the shelves.
And, as Fortin Bley, our Ivorian producer, said, fair trade does not offer a guarantee that children do not work in the cocoa fields.
On the other hand, it is a guarantee that everything is done to avoid it.
So, why not give preference to products displaying a “fair trade” label for your children, and for those in cocoa producing countries?
