Food Empowerment Project

Please tell us a little about the FEP and especially the ‘fair trade’ chocolate list

Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.) is a vegan food justice organization.

We promote veganism for the animals and create tools to help people go vegan, such as when we work with a community to create our recipe websites seen here: veganmexicanfood.com (English and Spanish), veganfilipinofood. com (English and Tagalog), and veganlaofood.com (English and coming in Lao soon).

We also work to support the rights of farm workers by promoting boycotts they call for, working on legislative policy changes, and coordinating an annual school supply drive for their children.

And we work in local communities (when asked) to help address the lack of access to healthy foods in Black and Brown communities.

Finally, we work to help people not buy chocolate sourced from areas where the worst forms of child labor and slavery are the most prevalent. We do this by maintaining and regularly updating a very comprehensive chocolate list.

As we are a vegan organization, companies have to make at least one vegan chocolate to make our list.

How does the F.E.P. build up the list?

Our list is updated every month and is populated when our supporters send us names of vegan chocolate companies or products they don’t see on our list yet want to know if we would recommend them or not.

Why do some Companies lose their status?

Great question.

Companies can lose their status for a variety of reasons:

1. As part of our ongoing research, we keep up to date on various investigations that are done by universities around the world (including one from Sheffield that caused us to re-evaluate our list in 2018), investigative journalists, as well as government agencies.

These help us to evaluate how extensive the problems are in certain countries, with certifications, and with companies.

2. A company could be bought out by another company, and when we write to confirm their sourcing, we find out that they have changed suppliers, or many times, they might have been bought by a larger company that does not disclose country of origin.

3. We will contact companies periodically to see if they have the same supplier and find out they have switched to a supplier we do not recommend.

How extensive is the scale of the problem?

Both Brazil and Western Africa are areas where the worst forms of child labor and slavery are currently taking place, and it’s important to note that Western Africa accounts for about 70% of where the world’s cacao comes from.

Are you seeing a shift in responsibility from vegan chocolate producers?

We do hear from some vegan companies -- before they even start producing -- that want the list of wholesale chocolate companies that we recommend, and of course, we have some vegan companies that do ask for our wholesale list as well when they find they do not make our list.

It does seem that those companies -- vegan or those with a large vegan line -- do care about the list and even promote being on it. I guess those companies seem to understand the importance of responsible sourcing and know that many people truly care about these issues.

It is gratifying to see so many vegan companies excited to make our list. We are constantly contacted by vegans who love their products and want to be able to eat them again or try new products!

Apart from using the list – what else can people do to help?

Again, we want people to remember that it is not just about what they buy, it is about speaking out and letting the companies know this issue is important to them. Also, sharing the information with others is crucial. This needs to stop, as it is inexcusable that slavery continues to exist in the 21st century.

What about the ‘multinationals’ – the bigger players?

When you look at some of the larger companies, in my opinion, they are the cause of the problem, as they have refused to pay the farmers a living income and instead have paid them so little in order to make a big profit.

Many of these companies are now coming out with vegan bars, so we can definitely let them know just because the candy bars are vegan, they aren’t cruelty-free if they come from slavery or child labor.

How important is it for vegans to consider human rights in their purchases?

For those who are vegan for ethical reasons and do not want their decisions to harm others, I think it is only consistent to consider human rights when buying products. I think it also shows others that vegans do extend their circle of compassion to both human and non-human animals.

Again, this does not mean I believe vegans or activists should do anything differently in terms of what they do for non-human animals, but it’s imperative that we know the importance of our food choices and speak out on these issues. In other words, we should do our best to eat with our ethics. These issues are all connected, and we can move forward to a more just and compassionate world when we recognize this.

Where can people access the list, and find out more information?

F.E.P.’s chocolate list can be accessed on our website:

https://foodispower.org/chocolate-list

It also includes where you can download our free app for an iPhone or Android.

For Android, go to the Play Store and search Chocolate List.

Or use this link:

https://play.google.com/store/ apps/details?id=org.foodispower.chocolatelist&hl=en_ US& gl=US

For the iPhone, go to the App Store and search for Food Empowerment Project or use this link:

https://apps.apple.com/ us/app/chocolate-list/ id610310122