How do you eat your Easter eggs? Do you nibble the bunny’s ears, smash your eggs into pieces or hide them away as a secret chocolate stash?
Whichever way you succumb, it’s still hard to make a guilt-free choice when it comes to chocolate. There’s that niggling worry about how many calories you are consuming with each bite and then there’s another elephant in the room, what about the people who farm the cocoa to make it all possible?
It’s a sad truth that children love Easter eggs except the ones who are forced to make them. That’s children as young as ten who have to harvest cocoa in West African plantations so we can eat cheap Easter eggs.
Look out for Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance or UTZ certification when buying your Easter eggs this year and your chocolate consumption will be much less guilt-ridden.
UTZ Certified is a program and a label for sustainable farming and the UTZ Certified label is featured on more than 10,000 different product packages in over 116 countries. UTZ Certified stands for sustainable farming and better opportunities for farmers, their families and our planet. The program enables farmers to learn better farming methods, improve working conditions and take better care of their children and the environment.
Through the UTZ-program farmers grow better crops, generate more income and create better opportunities while safeguarding the environment and securing the earth’s natural resources.
Other sustainable choices include Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade who help to empower shoppers to choose chocolate sourced from ethical, sustainable resources.
ALDI Australia supports the UTZ Certification movement with their Easter chocolate brands - Dairy Fine, Choceur, Moser Roth and Specially Selected.
“We also stock a variety of other UTZ certified, Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance products. For example, our Just Organic black and green teas bear the Fairtrade mark, which represents better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world,” says an ALDI Australia spokesperson.
ALDI was recently named 2014 Supermarket of the Year by Roy Morgan Research for its industry leading levels of service and customer satisfaction.
Disclaimer: Ed+bK was gifted Easter eggs by Aldi.