Hershey's Milk Chocolate

Hershey's Chocolate Company got its start in the late 1800s in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. by a man named Milton S. Hershey. Using the surrounding farmland for all it's milk needs, Hershey flourished after weathering the Depression in the 1930s to become the world famous company it is today.



As the Chocolate World Tour says, Hershey's Milk Chocolate starts with fresh, whole milk (or non-fat milk as now is the case) and a commitment to a well-made chocolate product. Hershey's has a long legacy of providing not only a cheap, sweet treat to their consumers, it includes a long-standing investment in the local community and partnerships with countries abroad. In 2011, the Hershey Company began a pilot program in Ghana called CocoaLink-Connecting Cocoa Communities"^[1]. The President of the World Cocoa Foundation declared, "'another great example of the public-private partnerships that form the basis of WCF's programs to benefit cocoa farmers, their families and their communities'"^[2].

But what about the actual production of America's favorite chocolate?

The Hershey Company website includes an entire page, with a video and audio component^[3] and print format ^[4], devoted to the creation of their chocolate bars. But I'm going to focus on two aspects of production:


Where is Hershey’s chocolate produced? Where does Hershey get its cocao beans?

Production Locations: Believe it or not, Hershey owns production plants all over the world. Hershey's largest factory is currently located in Hershey, Pennsylvania^[5]. The original factory has since been set to close the doors and move to a larger, faster producing one being built in West Hershey, Pennsylvania. This move will cost the jobs of some 500 workers and had the workers union not demanded the factory stay within the town, it may have moved operations fully outside the Hershey area^[6].

Hershey also has factories in Lancaster, PA., producing Twizzlers, Hazelton, PA., producing Kit Kat, Hershey Extra Dark, and Cadbury bars, Stuarts Draft, VA., producing Reese’s Whipps, Take 5, Reese’s Pieces, Mounds and Almond Joys, Robison, IL., producing PayDay, Heath, Whoppers, and Milk Dudsand Guadalajara, Mexico, where Hershey’s has had a presence for 40 years^[7].

Hershey also manufactures products in Canada, Brazil, China, Japan, and Korea and as such, has ensured that Hershey becomes a rapidly rising global product.

Cocao Beans: Indonesia, Brazil, the Ivory Coast and Ghana are all producers of cocao beans used to make Hershey’s products. Hershey claims they make a commitment to the local farmers in this area, such as the case with the new cell phone network in Ghana, to give rising standards to cocao farming, eliminating child labor and trafficking and other illegal practices through their Supplier Code of Conduct^[8].

Political instability, rising food prices, and diminishing supplies of cocao trees have given cause for a bump in the production costs of Hershey chocolate in the past year, thus increasing the price of the individual candy^[9].

But many watch-dog groups claim this is not the most troubling aspect of Hershey's production. What the Hershey Company has failed to do, or address publicly, for many years is the use of Fair Trade in their chocolate production practices^[10]. Fair Trade would not only ensure the cocao farmers receive proper compensation for the work they provide, but would also help stabilize growing costs of chocolate and prevent practices such as child slavery and child trafficking. West Africa's high rate of child trafficking and labor continues only as long as major corporations refuse to put into practice policies to prevent the need for this labor base. The Ivory Coast has been well-known for selling children into slavery to local farmers^[11], a practice which calls into question not only the government of the Ivory Coast^[12], which is currently in shambles and the entire country on the brink of civil war^[13], but also the corporations purchasing cocao from the area and the consumers purchasing the finalized product, aware or unaware of this problem.

However, a coalition of laborer rights and global peace organizations have called on Hershey to step up and Raise the Bar.

Hershey produces 42.5% of the US markets chocolate^[14]. More than any other company in the country. If Hershey decides to employ more transparency in where it's cocao supplies come from, engaging in Fair Trade or other certification programs, then other major chocolate companies will be forced to do the same. Because Hershey refuses to tell the public where their supplies of cocao comes from, there is no way to prove they do not engage in any illegal or abusive campaigns^[15].

Multiple petitions exist to ask Hershey to begin using Fair Trade practices and a transparent form of production practices in line with their own code of social responsibility. As well as formal petitions, informal forms of protest, such as the Hershey Brand Jamming Contest^[16], which only closed on April 10^th, provide more creative brands of protest against this chocolate giant.

Hershey produces approximately one million pounds of chocolate a day.

Basic List of Products:^[17]

Hershey's chocolate bars
Hershey's Symphony
Hershey's Extra Dark
Almond Joy
Mounds
100 Calorie Bar
Hershey's Bliss
Hershey's Drops
Hershey's Miniatures
Hershey's Pot of Gold
Kit Kat Wafer Bar
Hershey's Nuggets chocolates
Hershey's Kisses brand chocolates
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Pieces
Whoppers
York Peppermint Pattie
Others
Hershey Canada
Cadbury Chocolates

Additional Resources:
The Hershey Company website
The Dark Side of Chocolate documentary with streaming video found here.
Raise the Bar Hershey
Fair Trade USA website
Table of Fair Trade Chocolate Companies