Hagensborg Chocolates’ mission has always been to sweeten the world. But when reports began coming in about child slavery in the West African cacao trade, owner Shelley Wallace knew she had to do more.

 

Many larger companies opt for a Fair Trade model, which deals with cooperatives to provide stable prices in fluctuating markets – a model used extensively in the coffee trade as well. But in that industry, according to the Guardian, Far Trade isn’t always the most effective solution for the farmer.

“The minimum price is only guaranteed to the co-operative, and not the small-scale farmer, or their workers at the end of the chain. Prices are fixed without adapting to country context, and costs are often high for producer organisations to become Fairtrade certified.”

So Shelley set out on a mission to source farm-direct cacao and chocolate production she could count on for her Truffle Pig line of premium chocolate bars. It turned into a 14,000 kilometer journey to Central America, where she personally researched the farms, processing and production of slave-free Truffle Pig chocolate.

She also returned with hundreds of photos, videos and a story worth telling. Unicycle Creative helped document this supply-chain epic, and the ‘Journey for Guilt Free Chocolate’ video was born.

“We sought out the highest quality Central American cacao beans, farmed in the most biodynamic way,” says Wallace, “People deserve to know where their chocolate really comes from.”

If you care where YOUR chocolate comes from, get your Truffle Pig bars at Hagensborg’s Burnaby, BC chocolate shop, or online.

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