Guilt free Dairy Milk!

Fairtrade fortnight is turning out to be a good one! not only is Starbucks going fair trade, but now Cadbury's has announced that from this Autumn all its Dairy Milk bars will be too! According to the FT "The confectionery group will certify 300m of its Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bars as well as its packaged cocoa, at a cost of £1.5m ($2.1m), by the end of summer."

Unsurprisngly this news has been welcomed by the Fairtrade Foundation, and their chief executive, Harriet Lambsaid Cadbury’s move, which represents £200m in retail sales, would “throw down the gauntlet” to other big chocolate manufacturers. “It’s an iconic British brand ... This does really set the pace for the mainstream industry.”

It seems that the tide is turning, that major multinationals are realising fairtrade (and ethical trading) is becoming an increasingly important part of people's choices, and that they have to keep up with it.

Cadbury 's will now pay an extra $150 a tonne for Fairtrade cocoa to ensure farmers receive a minimum price, which is $1,600 a tonne. It buys nearly two-thirds of its cocoa from Ghana, and this will make huge difference to their lives.

However we should never sit on our laurels, and much, much more still needs to be done. We all still need to make the right consumer choices, lobby companies and governments and serve those less well off than ourselves. Proverbs 16:11 says "The Lord demands fairness in every business deal; he sets the standards" We who are Christians, Christ's ambassadors, must do the same.