Supports shipping to:
- Netherlands (no shipping required)
- UK (no shipping required)
- Germany
- Austria
- Norway (no shipping required)
- Finland (no shipping required)
- Belgium
- Romania (no shipping required)
Non EU:
- US (hawaii too)
- Australia,
- Puerto rico
Here’s their promise to never use forced labour for their cocoa.
There’s also the Tony’s open chain: a pledge by many companies (not just eu, also us) to use only ethically sourced cocoa. The companies are: here
I was under the impression that Tony’s is working towards a chocolate industry without child labor and forced labor. But the issue is quite complex and they’re not there yet.
Not saying they’re bad. It seems that they’re doing what they can and according to their website they “lead by example”. But I’m not sure if they make any promises about a 100% child labor / forced labor free supply chain at this moment.
The above could be outdated, maybe they’ve achieved their objectives for their own supply chain already. But I can’t find it on their website atm.
Previously they claimed no slave labor for many years.
They audited their supply chain every year, but eventually found that no matter the claims of their suppliers and auditors, they were finding instances of child labor.
So they’ve updated their stance and are actively working to change the industry
Here’s an article from 2022 covering the issue
Appreciate the insight, thanks!
I think it used to say “as little slavery as possible” or something like that but I don’t see that written out anymore, just implied.
From the inside of one I just opened:
Also
lead by example
https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/
mfw
It used to say “slave free” (yes, without a hyphen because apparently they know better than 4 translators) but now it says they try to be as slave free as possible.
It actually doesn’t even say that anymore, it’s even more vague now. Thats what I was trying to show with the picture
May contain nuts, child slavery, lactose
That consumer reports link. YIKES!
Did you also learn this information from John Oliver like me?
No I think they were pretty open about it themselves. Don’t watch John Oliver tbh 😅.
He does a great job but it’s all USA focused content
I love Tony’s, but they’re also reportedly higher in lead content than other brands.
https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/
Valrhona is a solid non-American brand pick from the list of safer chocolate and they’re B-Corp certified. I believe their parents company is French.
When it comes to chocolate you’re often forced to pick your poison, so to speak.
This is for dark chocolate only, and the article has them listed as one of the lowest lead brands. Crazy that they’re all so high though, WTF!
A fair point! Didn’t even occur to me since I only bother with the dark stuff lol
They’re the lowest listed of the “high lead content” category. So kind of the best of the worst for it, I suppose.
TIL chocolate can have lead…jfc
Everything has lead.
I love Tony’s, but they’re also reportedly higher in lead content than other brands.
Yes, that is because cocoa plants absorb heavy metals from the soil. Tony probably has a higher lead content because they simply use more cocoa. That’s something you can also see if you compare dark chocolate with milk chocolate - dark chocolate will have more lead because more cocoa is used.
The amount of lead is also not a biggie - you’d have to eat such an insane amount of chocolate that you’d die of the sugar intake WAY earlier than from the lead exposure.
1: It’s thought to be contamination from the manufacturing and shipping process, as far as I know.
2: There is no safe level of lead intake, and it’s not about lethal dosage. The numbers used are California’s extra-paranoid metrics however. That doesn’t make them wrong, just be aware that you’re being poisoned in so many other ways as well you might as well have some chocolate now and again, it probably won’t be the thing that gives you Alzheimer’s. But it might! You’ll never know! Or remember…
3: Tony’s is still better because all the others are just as bad but with slavery.
I mean, their 70% cocoa clocks in at 134% the mentiomed safe limit while the 80% cocoa from mast is at 14% (both reportedly for 1 oz of chocolate) according to the previously linked data. If the main determinant was the amount of cocoa, than I would have expected 80% to be higher.
Of course a company could be lying about the cocoa %, or using some type of filler, etc. But it seems plausible that there might be other causes. For example, perhaps some cocoa plantation locations have more lead in their soil, etc.
Tony’s did actually respond to CR, claiming these are not food safety standards. They did not appear to mention why their chocolate had any different levels of lead than other companies, just that leaf is absorbed from the soil.
I doubt anyone is getting lead poisoning exclusively from eating chocolate, but it’s accumulative in the human body and worth being aware of.
Lead and cadmium come from cocoa plants. Tony’s might have more because it has a higher cocoa percentage
It’s most likely from the surrounding environment, and pollution from cars. Countries with shitty regulations are cheap to hire from and their crops are cheaper. The downside? You get lead in your food.
What’s b corp certified?
In the UK, B labs certifies companies they meet their requirements for social responsibility, environmental stuff etc. I don’t know the details but the companies I’ve seen that have B corp status seem to care about doing nice stuff, so I consider it a plus.
Also it’s pretty good. I didn’t know I liked milk chocolate, because Hershey’s is disgusting. Tony’s is objectively a better tasting product.
Well there’s your problem, in the Netherlands (and other places) Hershey milk ‘chocolate’ isn’t legally chocolate. It needs at least 35% cacao to be called chocolate. It would be called ‘Cacao fantasy’ here instead. So no wonder you think it’s shit chocolate, cause it isn’t chocolate to begin with
For sure, that’s why it tastes like vomit.
Hershey’s chocolate has butyric acid, which is also found in vomit. The acid is allegedly a byproduct, but it helps stabilize the chocolate and prevent it from melting. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hersheys-chocolate-tastes-like-vomit_l_60479e5fc5b6af8f98bec0cd
I don’t know if it’s an urban legend, but the story I had always heard was that chocolate became very scarce during the war, as milk was rationed, but Hershey’s figured out how to make decent tasting chocolate from spoiled milk, which was easier to get since no one wanted it. The war went on long enough that Americans eventually expected chocolate to taste like that, so after it ended they reformulated to keep the signature taste while using fresh milk.
It’s a myth. It’s all about the milk powder manufacturing process. The American process increases butyric acid content.a different process is used in Europe.
Butyric acid is a natural ingredient of milk. Surprisingly, in small amounts it creates a creamy sensation. It is used for that purpose in many natural and synthetic flavourings.
The problem with American milk chocolate is the way they produce milk powder - their method increases butyric acid content turning creamy sensation into vomit.
No, it’s because there’s some biproduct to how they process the chocolate that I think tastes bad to people who didn’t grow up eating it. As an American, I think I can taste the slightly sour note in Hershey’s that I don’t taste in other chocolates but my brain has had enough exposure to it that it doesn’t taste vomit-y so I don’t mind it (lol.) Don’t get me wrong, it’s not good quality by any means but to me it’s like the difference getting a burger from McDonald’s vs at a nice restaurant. Not often, but there’s time and place where getting McDonald’s fucking hits.
@half_fiction @TTH4P the theory is it’s butyric acid (in the UK everyone thinks Hershey’s tastes like vomit too and lots of our milk chocolate is quite low cocoa content) https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hersheys-chocolate-tastes-like-vomit_l_60479e5fc5b6af8f98bec0cd
That’s like saying “I didn’t know I liked olives because faeces from people who have eaten olives is disgusting”. Hershey’s is widely hated for a reason, it shouldn’t be legal to sell.
Haha yes!
I didn’t know I liked milk chocolate, because Hershey’s is disgusting.
Hershey’s is someone LARPing chocolate making. It’s pure disgusting. How people have been eating it for so long is beyond me.
Some of us grew up thinking that was chocolate. Have pity, rather than disdain.
The lies your government have fed you since you were a child are hard to forget. But join us, in the real chocolate world, my child, and we will embrace you with open arms.
Thank you, my brothersister
My cat’s sick is a better tasting product than Hershey’s
Fucking woke BS, ChIlD sLaVeRy. Let the childern work, we need Chocolate!
/s
the children YEARN for the nestle mines, we NEED that chocolate
mines
Everyone knows chocolate is hunted! /s
I think chocolate is just the distilled blood and tears of third world children. Wait, that’s nestle only? Damn, it must grow on trees then.
It basically is. Back in 2005, when inspecting cocoa plantations used for example by Nestlé, they found six-year-olds bought as slaves climbing the trees with baskets and harvesting cocoa using machete-like big knives that regularly caused the children to lose their hands or arms, in which case the child was thrown away and a new one was bought to replace it. Children were observed with scars in their shoulders half a centimetre (about ¼ inch) deep from carrying heavy baskets attached to their shoulders by ropes.
To my knowledge, this has not changed in the last 20 years, except that nowadays there are quite many slavery-free chocolates available, so the number of those plantations has probably decreased?
Chocolate comes from slaves, and the slaves are essentially hunted.
FYI: Check if whatever brand you like also works with Tony’s for their supply chain. For example Jumbo (NL supermarket) sources their chocolate from Tony’s and there’s quite a lot more partners.
https://www.tonysopenchain.com/ Found the partners
I’ll add them right now
Great find! I wasn’t able to find it before. Time to check it out
Thanks for the tip!
Aside from the activism stuff, Tonys just tastes how good chocolate should taste.
yup, my goto these days.
As an American: you guys eat American chocolate?
I mean there is also a big difference between American brands in the US and the EU. Last time I went to the US, I brought back snickers, Twix, and KitKats. Then I bought the EU alternative and set up a double blinded taste test with my friends.
Without fail we all immediately were able to tell them apart. The American version was chalky and tasted like pure sugar. The EU version, albeit also nowhere near Tony quality and still very sweet, was much higher quality and you could taste the individual components of the candy. It was not just a sweet punch in the face.
I worked in a Nabisco factory a decade ago in the US making Oreo.
They’ve consistently looked for cost cutting measures to reduce the amount of cocoa powder (expensive input) put into the product. What happened when I was there was they would look for a new vendor that would offer stronger cocoa flavor profile per kg and then use that as a justification to cut the amount of cocoa powder in the product. To mask it they would amp up the sweetness.
In a blind test, a normal people can’t tell the difference year to year, but if you compare it to what it was ten years ago, there would be a noticeable difference.
As to the last paragraph. Totally right that we don’t notice the gradual change right away, but I don’t think I’m alone in thinking everything just kind of tastes like shit now. Everything. Produce isn’t good, meats aren’t good, groceries are completely fucked. The entire food industry has been tinkered with by greedy bastards for so long it’s just all garbage now.
Twix is British.
TIL it’s Mars. The point still stands though.
I’m not american or european, but yeah. They don’t ship here (nor any other ethical alternatives) so sadly i’m stuck with stuff like pepsico and nestle. I try to abstain as much as possible.
You guys eat american chocolate
Why not? It tastes fine. My main problem is how they use forced labor to source the cocoa; which in this case chocolonely is the exception. Even european companies (like nestle) still suffer the same issues.
Though i’m biased since as i said, we mainly only have pepsico and nestle so i don’t know how “proper” chocolate in your guys’s opinion tastes.
We do have pretty decent chocolate here, but it’s not any of the major brands. I grew up eating Hershey, which is pretty bad (but it kind of has a special place in my heart - nostalgia and all that).
No
That rancid stuff? No ty
Bibamba Chocolate in Denver is locally produced and grown on the owner’s farm in Cameroon
We do have some excellent chocolate here. Just that the big brands aren’t very good.
Fair question! Europeans eating American chocolate when they have access to the best in the world is kind of bizarre
It’s all African chocolate anyways. All cocoa used worldwide comes from West Africa.
I’m not sure how your point is relevant.
It’s certainly not just raw cocoa, it’s so much more.
I was just joking around ;)
(But what one can say is that there is a problematic practice in that whole industry since they all ship cocoa to other continents to combine it with so much more stuff to make chocolate. I’d love to buy fully African-produced chocolate, but it simply doesn’t exist)
I always identified American chocolate with a stronger taste of butyric acid, which made it less appealing to me.
Everyone should watch John Oliver’s Chocolate episode (as much as is preferred not to link YouTube). Tony’s is discussed, and it seems more ethical than most. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwHMDjc7qJ8
Edit: updated comment to better reflect coverage.
That short segment about Tony seems relatively positve.
I hadn’t watched the segment since it aired and… you’re right. Thanks!
I love Tony’s as much as the next guy. However, be aware that a test conducted in 2022 found high levels of lead in Chocolonely Dark Chocolate variant.
Consistent, long-term exposure to even small amounts of heavy metals can lead to a variety of health problems. The danger is greatest for pregnant people and young children because the metals can cause developmental problems, affect brain development, and lead to lower IQ, says Tunde Akinleye, the CR food safety researcher who led this testing project.
You’re cherry picking and not showing the full picture, the reports on MILK chocolate shows a very different story
I discovered Tony’s Chocoloney a few months ago, and I really love it. I can get it at my local supermarket as well. Great to see them on here!
I go out of ny way to buy this chocolate (outside EU) as its simply divine compared to American chocolate.
For Norway: you can buy these at Normal. Much cheaper than getting them shipped.
what an abnormal store name lol
Thanks, i’ll add this to the post :D
Also available in Finland in some grocery stores.
Adding right now, thanks
They sell it in most supermarkets in the UK too. Even starting to see it in some vending machine too.
Adding, thank you!
I hate that my choices are Expensive, Evil, or Doesn’t Taste Good when it comes to so many products.
Which applies for you with this brand? I love the taste, but would admit it’s a fair chunk of my weekly groceries total.
Never bought it, because yes it’s too pricey. I don’t buy chocolate often to begin with, but I’m never willing to try this because it’s so much more than everything else.
I’d love to have some Tony’s Chocolonely. Unfortunately, I have such a severe gluten intolerance that their cross contaminated factory produces Russian Roulette bars for me.
Even though most of their bars don’t actually contain gluten based ingredients, the fact they use one big production facility that sprinkles gluten all over the place for shits and giggles ensures I will never be able to safely consume their products.
I’ll stick to G’woon chocolate. They at least produce their non-glutened bars in a safe environment.
(And yes I’ve tried Tony’s bars in the past, always resulting in issues because of it.)
Who downvotes this?
big nestle, they got angered by that “without child slavery” part 😤
I didn’t downvote but I will add a note to Tony’s.
First of all: I applaud their mission and every company in the world should be working without slavery of any kind.
Because Tony’s is so open about their sourcing and making a big deal about being 100% slave free, they are an easy target for organizations checking their claims. There have been a couple of moments in time where Tony’s has been challenged, the most recent one being 2021, where they have been removed from the list of ethical chocolate companies by the American company Slave Free Chocolate, because they collaborated with Barry Callebaut.
Now, to expand on ‘collaboration’, here: Tony’s buys their cocoa very transparently, from farmers who do not employ children, paid or otherwise. Then, to process this cocoa they need an efficient factory and they use one in Antwerp, Belgium. This factory also processes the cocoa from Barry Callebaut.
Tony’s doesn’t really care, of course, about being taken off the list by this company. They know they are ethical enough by their own measure, which is still leagues ahead of most.
The point here being that one might read one headline or the other, refuse to go into any depth and form their opinion. Now any time they read Tony’s all they remember is ‘they are not as holy as they make themselves out to be’. Hence they’ll just downvote this any time they glance over it.
Or it might be Big Chocolate, idk.
The chocolate just doesn’t taste the same if it’s not seasoned with the tears of child-slaves. /s
There are people against seeing any brands on social media unless it’s an exposé. I don’t fault them.
I
