Dark Chocolate

Lovely, sweet, delicious chocolate! If you're like me, you'll take it any way you can get it - white, dark, milk, crunchy - on fruit, pretzels and nuts. Just about anything tastes better with chocolate.

But you may not know the dark side of chocolate. Did you know that most of the world's cocoa comes from Africa? A staggering 70 percent comes from West Africa. A large percentage of that, roughly 40 percent, comes from the Ivory Coast alone! The chocolate trade brings millions of dollars into the African continent every year.

However, much of the cocoa crop is harvested, sorted and packed by child laborers, many reportedly under the age of 10. Despite numerous international campaigns to end illegal slavery and child labor on cocoa plantations, it still continues to be a problem that just won't go away.

There's a great Fortune Magazine article that goes in-depth into these problems, both from an economic and human rights perspective. If you get the chance, read the article by clicking here.

Some go so far as to label chocolate as either "slave chocolate" or "free chocolate." For those of us who are consuming vast amounts of the sugary treat, it is advisable to know the difference between the two. And know more about what the money you paid for your dollar candy bar is supporting. Read what the Anti-slavery Society has to say about these differences between the two chocolates.

Chocolate is definitely still one of my favorite comfort foods. But now that I've read up on the horrors of the cocoa fields and can choose to eat "safe" chocolate, I can enjoy my treat in peace. Hope you will be able to do the same!