Confections

The greening of the confectionery sector has noticeably increased in pace toward the end of the first decade of the 21st century. This process has seen niche “ethical” confectionery products enter markets previously regarded as mainstream, with major global players such as Cadbury, Mars, and Nestlé adopting a variety of green strategies in order to keep in touch with changing consumer awareness of green issues and shifting demand. Green chocolate-based products continue to dominate the confectionery sector, although other products, such as green chewing gum, have also entered the market. A variety of green, ethical, and sustainable issues have gained ground in the sector, notably Fair Trade, supply chain considerations, the use of natural ingredients, packaging, health considerations, and consumer lobbying.

Green, ethical confectionery started as a niche product within the sector, and the chocolate producer Green and Black's soon became emblematic of the ethical market. In 1994, Green and Black's Maya Gold 70 percent cocoa solids dark organic chocolate was the first in the United Kingdom to obtain the Fairtrade mark, and signaled the beginning of business interest in green, sustainable confectionery. Green and Black's demonstrated that sustainable principles could be applied to all aspects of the business, including supporting local communities in Bélize where their cocoa was sourced, and repairing the environmental damage of conventional farming methods. As interest and demand for organic, high cocoa content chocolate increased, Green and Black's was able to make the transition into mainstream retail outlets, extending its distribution. In 2005, Green and Black's was sold to Cadbury, marking a deliberate move into the green market by an international brand.

The majority of cacao trees grow in the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Africa, making cacao the second most important agricultural export commodity in tropical regions. Here, a Theobroma cacao tree in the Dominican Republic

Source: Christopher Cooper/Wikipedia

Nonchocolate confectionery is also present in the green market category. For example, The Natural Confectionery Company market their jelly sweets in the marketplace as [Page 66]containing no artificial colors or sweeteners. The Mexico-based, sustainably-managed company Consorcio Chiclero has produced the world's first 100 percent natural, biodegradable, and certified organic chewing gum. Its Chicza gum is nonsticky, and decomposes to dust within weeks. Most mass-produced chewing gums use artificial, petrol-based polymers and are difficult to dispose of, as they bind easily with any surface they touch. Conventional gum accounts for 78 percent of discarded litter in the United Kingdom, and costs an estimated 150 million pounds a year to remove it from public spaces.

The use of artificial ingredients in confectionery products has gained a good deal of public attention because of their effect on human health and the damage they cause to the environment in their production. For example, high-fructose corn syrup is frequently used as a sweetener instead of sugar or honey in many products, but is criticized for rising obesity, increasing environmental degradation from the intense farming of corn (its principle ingredient), as well as for its high-energy footprint. Palm oil is used as a texture agent by chocolate manufacturers, but its production is associated with the destruction of rainforests and the loss of natural habitat for the orangutan. Countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea have been identified by Greenpeace as being at risk from producing palm oil. Greenpeace is lobbying companies like Ferrero, Nestlé, Kraft, and Unilever to ensure that their supplies come from sustainable sources.

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