One of the most prominent chocolate manufacturers around the world is Mars Chocolate. It has recently announced that it is keeping up with its 2009 pledge to purchase 100% of their cocoa from certified sustainable sources by 2020.

The company recently revealed that it successfully purchased 10 percent of its cocoa reserves as a certified sustainable source in 2011 (as certified by the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ) .

In 2012 it expects to  exceed their target of 20 percent, establishing themselves as the largest user of certified cocoa in the world. Solely based upon current purchasing trends and deals, the company has envisioned that they can purchase up to 90,000 tons of certified cocoa from sources all over the globe this year.

The company firmly believes that certification is the best tool that their industry has in order to source cocoa from the five to six million cocoa farmers all around the planet.  Right now, the estimated cocoa demand will exceed the global supply by at least a million tons by the year 2020.

Through purchasing and sustainable supplies and helping farmers achieve sustainable status, cocoa companies will be able to continue to buy larger volumes of cocoa in the future.

The Global Procurement and Sustainability Head of Mars Chocolate, Barry Parkin, has stated that "we are pleased to have reached another critical milestone in our Sustainable Cocoa Initiative."  According to another official, Andy Harner, VP of Global Cocoa, “Certification has great potential to benefit hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of cocoa farmers. “However, to be truly meaningful, certification must bring industry together to prioritize real change at the farm level ahead of all other interests.”

You can find more information at their website, www.mars.com/cocoasustainability.  Also take a look at the blog at cocoasustainability.com.

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Joanna Maligaya

Staff Writer/Content Developer at Chocolate University Online

Ever since she can remember, Joanna has always considered chocolate as the ultimate food for her soul. She believes in the saying, “9 out of 10 people love chocolate, and the 10th always lies.”

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