According to the Guardian, the food company that owns the Cadbury brand is facing new charges of child labor after an inquiry discovered film of minors working with machetes on cocoa fields in its supply chain.
Children as young as ten years old have allegedly been spotted harvesting cocoa pods in Ghana for Mondelz International, which owns Cadbury, according to the UK website. Farmers are being paid less than £2 per day, according to campaigners, and cannot afford to recruit adult staff.
The study, which aired on Channel 4 Dispatches, comes more than two decades after the chocolate industry committed to end child labor.
"It's horrible to watch these youngsters wielding these long machetes, which are often half their height," Ayn Riggs, creator of Slave Free Chocolate, a movement against child labor in cocoa fields, said. Over 20 years ago, chocolate firms committed to clean up the mess. They were well aware that child labor was profitable, and they had broken their pledges."
Cadbury's findings come as millions of pounds will be spent on Easter chocolate goodies this weekend. Every year, more than £300 million is spent on Easter eggs and novelty items, including more than 80 million packaged eggs. According to market research firm Mintel, the UK chocolate market is worth £5.6 billion. Every year, around 330 million Cadbury Creme eggs are consumed.