Independently certified cocoa

The Hershey Company has announced that 30 per cent of its globally sourced cocoa was independently certified and verified. This reflects an accelerated pace for achieving its goal of sourcing 100 per cent of its cocoa supply from certified and sustainable cocoa farms by 2020. The announcement follows the company’s 2013 achievement of sourcing 18 per cent certified cocoa globally, nearly double its original goal of 10 per cent for the first year of its 2020 commitment.

Given its accelerated momentum toward 100 per cent certified and sustainable cocoa, Hershey also announced a new target to source at least 50 per cent certified cocoa by the end of 2015, reaching its 2016 goal of 40 and 50 per cent one year ahead of schedule.
“Sourcing sustainable cocoa is a key part of our 21st Century Cocoa Sustainability Strategy, which focuses on programmes that improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers, their families and cocoa communities around the world,” says Terry O’Day, senior vice president and chief supply chain officer. “We are proud of our rapid progress in just two years and our alignment with the industry’s efforts to address the challenges in cocoa growing regions through the CocoaAction initiative led by the World Cocoa Foundation. Together, the cocoa and chocolate industry can bring training that helps improve livelihoods, gender equality and provide health and farm safety programs to benefit these communities.”