The sweet, but sometimes-bitter truth about Easter Chocolate

Chocolate is delicious and people around the world know it. Every Easter Australians spend millions of dollars buying hundreds of kilograms of chocolate to eat and give away.

In 2022, the revenue from chocolate confectionery Down Under amounted to AU$5.13 billion. Australians spent an average of AU$196.96 per capita on chocolate products. (Australian Chocolate Consumption Statistics for 2022)

But some of this chocolate is tainted by slavery and comes at the cost of a child’s health, education and sometimes his or her freedom. Much of our chocolate is made using cocoa beans harvested by children, often in the West African region. Many of these children are forced into labour. We can help change this. (Image: Unsplash)

Ask the question – how sweet is my chocolate?

Cocoa is a key ingredient of chocolate.

Much of the chocolate sold in Australia is made using cocoa beans picked by children, many of whom have been enslaved, or forced to work in exploitative conditions. The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) estimates that there are more than 1.5 million children working in the cocoa sector in West Africa, where about 70% of the world’s cocoa is produced.