Confectionery and cocoa sectors continue efforts to support communities through coronavirus
With latest production deadlines looming, this week’s blog will be a short one from myself, just simply to re-emphasise that it has been particularly notable to see how the confectionery industry around the world is doing its bit to give back to those less fortunate during the coronavirus pandemic.
During the past few weeks we have carried a number of reports from around the world on companies wanting to do something to help wherever they can, not out of any sense of gain, but really feeling a sense of obligation to help those in some of the globe’s poorest communities, as well as assist with events far closer to home here in Europe.
For example, in the UK, plastic packaging specialist Macpac devising face masks approved for medical use which it supplied on a not-for-profit basis to meet the urgent demand with tackling shortages in protective equipment within Britain, which has seen among the highest death tolls in Europe from the disease.
Other companies have engaged in international support as well, including UK chocolate business MIA (Made in Africa), pictured, offering a donation from its charitable fund towards supporting vulnerable communities in Madagascar, while over in the US, confectionery major The Hershey Company has been offering support to a number of medical and community organisations that are actively on the frontline of tackling the coronavirus outbreak, as well as recognising the achievements of its own staff. The company has made a $1million investment into face masks to tackle the
This week, we have also heard news of a major initiative of over 30 businesses and organisations connected to the international cocoa trade joining together to donate a sum of over $800,000 towards cocoa farmers and their families living in key markets in Ghana and Ivory Coast, in a bid to bring some sense of normality back to these unprecedented times.
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