Single Origin Chocolate

In # 5: Organic and ethical food labels by Elijah

This product I found is called Beyond Good Chocolate does not have an “ethical” food label but claims to be “single-origin chocolate”. In this case, it means that the chocolate can all be traced back to a single producer or that is what they want you to think.  This producer could be a single farm, factory, or even country (Perfect Daily Grind). This means that the requirement to have a “single-origin” label on food products is not actually that high.  This label seems to be given by specific associations depending on the product. For example, the SCAE (Specialty Coffee Association of Europe) gives coffee its “single-origin” label based on the fact that it is a single type of coffee bean and not several types of coffee beans mixed together.

Unfortunately, there is no organization to manage single-origin chocolate. This means that there are no real requirements for chocolate companies when it comes to adding a single-origin label to their package. This could allow non-single-origin chocolate producers to add this to their labels and increase prices without actually making it single-origin chocolate.