Is Your Favorite Chocolate on This List? You Might Be Shocked!

Chocolate is supposed to be one of life’s greatest pleasures, am I right? Well, not all chocolate is worthy of your taste buds. Unfortunately, not all brands use high-quality ingredients and they often opt for cheap fillers or unhealthy preservatives. So, if you are a chocolate lover but are full of wasting money on bad chocolate, keep reading to find which brands you should avoid!

Before we talk about the brands that often disappoint, let’s explore the background of chocolate in the United States.

At first, you might think that all the chocolate companies on this list constitute all the chocolate available at your supermarket, and well, you might be right. Did you know that there are only 3 powerful companies that control 35% of the chocolate production for the entire world? These are: Hershey, Nestlé, and Mars. So, these companies would do anything to retain control and exploit vulnerable communities. You should keep in mind that not all of the claims made on the wrapper of every chocolate are honest.

Even though multiple alternatives of chocolate companies don’t exploit poor communities, a lot of consumers tend to avoid them, considering them too pricey. But, at the end of the day, that’s a decision you have to make. Are you comfortable paying less or is an extra dollar worth it so you can enjoy your snack guilt-free?

Here are 8 chocolate brands you should strictly avoid

1. Lindt

Lindt is one of the most famous chocolate brands in the world. The company is Swiss and it was founded in 1845. Originally, it produced just dark chocolate. Due to its marketing strategy, Lindt is seen as a luxurious company. But in reality, the ingredients are far from meeting the branding. Unfortunately, the first ingredient you’ll see is sugar. So, if you are a real chocolate lover, you can easily understand that Lindt is just an overpriced sugar.

And that is not all! The company also has some problems regarding the ways they obtain cocoa. It has been shown that they are linked to illegal farms in the Ivory Coast and Ghana. Not long ago, Lindt’s dark chocolate showed higher amounts of lead and cadmium than was permitted in the USA.

2. Ferrero

Ferrero is the second-largest chocolate produced globally and is, by far, one of the most loved ones. It was founded in Italy by Pietro Ferrero. Currently, the company has 18 factories and more than 40,000 employees, producing around 370,000 tons of Nutella each year.

The interesting part is that even though it produces tons of Chocolate products, Ferrero deals with some serious problems when it comes to ingredients. For example, the famous Butterfinger coating is not considered chocolate due to its poor cocoa content.

Ferrero company received a D from Green America. Unfortunately, its efforts to combat child and slave labor didn’t make any substantial progress.

3. Godiva

Godiva is a Belgian chocolate company currently owned by Turkey’s Yıldız Holding. Even though the company had more than 120 stores in North America, they were closed because of the pandemic and declining sales. So, even though there are around 650 stores worldwide, most of the chocolate that is produced in Turkey is sold in the United States.

What people don’t know is that Godiva sources cocoa from illegal farms. And, unfortunately, these use children and slaves, contributing a lot to environmental destruction. The company lacks labor certifications and earned an F grade from Green America in 2020. A study showed that most of the chocolate was contaminated with nickel.

4. Mondelez

You probably haven’t heard about Mondelez International, Inc. until now, but you certainly eaten their products. The company operates in more than 160 countries and is one of the largest companies by revenue in the United States.

The brand includes Oreo, Sour Patch Kids, Toblerone, Halls, Cadbury, Chips Ahoy!, and many more.

Like the other members of this list, Mondelz has huge problems in knowingly supporting and participating in child labor and slave labor. In 2017, they were included in a serious investigation that found that a big part of the cocoa used by Mondeles is known illegally in national parks in Africa.

In 2021, they were included in a lawsuit. The company was accused of knowingly profiting from the child slave suffering. For example, in the company’s farms dedicated to Cadbury, a lot of children under 10 were found working in extremely dangerous conditions.

5. Hershey

The company was founded in 1894 and rapidly became one of the most famous companies in the world. They used a secret process to make their products, but unfortunately, a part of it included lipolysis. This ingredient produces butyric acid in the chocolate, overpowering the flavor of the cocoa.

Usually, when foreigners test Hershey’s chocolate they don’t like it. In the United Kingdom, the chocolate smell and taste have been compared to vomit. Yummy!

In 2006, it was found that the company had begun to replace the cocoa butter in their chocolate with vegetable oil, so that’s the time when they changed their name to ”chocolatey”.

The problems are still present nowadays, and the most recent lawsuit took place in 2022, alleging that Hershey knew about the high levels of lead and cadmium in their chocolate, but chose to simply not warn their consumers about it.

6. Nestlé

You may already know that this is the world’s largest public food company. However, despite its product range, Nestle has faced serious lawsuits for unethical practices.

Let’s focus on the chocolate production. The company has been accused multiple times of using slavery and child trafficking. Even though it has multiple times promised to eliminate child labor, the company didn’t. So, next time you purchase a product from this brand, make sure you think twice before you decide if it’s worth your money or not.

7. Mars

Mars Inc. is another major producer, founded in 1911 by the Mars family. Even though it has been classified as the 4th largest company in the United States, in 2022, Mars has a long history of ethical problems.

In 2001 has first failed to meet deadlines for eliminating child slaves and the problems kept appearing. In 2019, the company admitted they had some issues and couldn’t guarantee their chocolate was free from child labor. They could only trace about 25% of their cocoa.

After an investigation, in 2023 were found children working in dangerous conditions in Mars’ supply chain from Ghana. Unfortunately, since that event took place, consumers lost trust in the company.

8. R. M. Palmer

The chocolate produced by this company is commonly known for lining the shelves, especially before Valentine’s Day. Their famous heart-shaped treats in red foil are extremely dangerous. Did you know that R.M. Palmer produces ”chocolaty” candy because they are not allowed to call their products chocolate?

Unfortunately, they include a lot of ingredients that shouldn’t be found in normal chocolate, such as vanilla or Alkali.

Besides their poor quality chocolate, R.M. Palmer became even more famous in 2023. The chocolate factory in Pennsylvania exploded and according to accounts, the workers were smelling natural gas before the disaster happened.

What is the healthiest chocolate?

You should know that the healthiest chocolate, according to nutrition experts, is the dark one. They believe that the more cocoa solids a product contains, the more nutritious it is. The dark chocolate also has a high content of flavonoids.

Elisabetta Politi, a famous dietitian from North California says that flavonoids function as antioxidants and they block the damaging effects of free radicals. It’s an important function because these radicals have been linked to increased risk of cancer and heart disease.

Most nutrition experts recommend choosing chocolate with high cocoa content because it contains less added sugar compared to chocolate with less cocoa. So, always opt for up to 70% cocoa content if you want to improve your diet and have better options.

Cocoa has a lot of benefits and one of the most important ones is that the beans contain protein, being a great source of minerals like iron and magnesium.

But besides the benefits chocolate can have on our bodies, we shouldn’t ignore the benefits for the mind. We become instantly happier once we have a chocolate bar. So, it has been shown that dark chocolate contributes to producing the feel-good hormone called serotonin, which is linked to reducing anxiety.

Before leaving, let us know in the comment section what is your favorite thing about chocolate. And why?

Also, make sure to check out this organic chocolate brand that can be easily found on Amazon!

Are you interested in learning more about chocolate? You should also read: FDA Warns of “Death” on These Chocolate Products