Just Kai Easter list 2023

Did you know that at least 20% of the Easter eggs on sale in New Zealand this Easter will be made with cocoa produced by kids? Children who work long days in very harsh conditions, rather than going to school. Who would want to support that?

Fortunately, you don’t have to! There are now certifications available that let you know someone’s been checking that kids aren’t working on the cocoa farms. We’ve put together a list: it’s got a huge range of Easter eggs, bunnies and other Easter chocolate, including everything from cheap and cheerful options for the kids to products from a company that’s placed many times in the New Zealand chocolate awards. Unfortunately we still don’t know of any child labour free options for classic chocolate marshmallow eggs (although WCF is doing limited edition Fairtrade chocolate marshmallows at the moment) and the list is a bit light on filled eggs. To help fill those gaps, we finish with links to a few recipes.

Check out our pdf summary flyer of good brands and one-off products;
Read on to learn how to check if Easter chocolate is child labour free or;
Jump straight to the list, which is also available in table form.

And, if you’d like to help us spread the word, check out our full set of Easter resources.

Table of Contents

Certifications

We’ve got a long list, but there’s quite likely child-labour-free Easter chocolate available that we’ve missed. If you’re interested in Easter chocolate that’s not on our list, how can you know whether it’s child labour free? Easy! Look for one of the following marks on the packaging: if any of those are there you can be confident someone’s checked to make sure no kids were working on the cocoa plantation.

NB on imported products there’s often been a sticker put on the back of the product giving the nutritional information etc. that is legally required in New Zealand. These stickers often obscure the marks you’re looking for (here’s an example of that): if you see such a sticker, look closely to see if any relevant marks are hidden underneath - in our example you’ll spot the certification at the bottom in the middle.

Two Fairtrade logos: one black in portrait orientation with a waving farmer and the other white and landscape including the words Cocoa Program.

Fairtrade. If you see the black-background version of the logo above, that is your best choice. It means that both the sugar and the cocoa in the product were made in Fairtrade conditions, along with anything else used that has a slavery risk (e.g. vanilla or coffee). Not only has the supply chain been audited for forced labour and child labour, auditors also checked working conditions were safe and that a premium price was paid to the farmers.

The white-background version of the logo certifies that those same Fairtrade audits took place, but they were just done for the cocoa itself, not for the other ingredients in the chocolate. It’s still a good choice, as cocoa is the chocolate ingredient with the highest risk of both child and forced labour.

Rainforest Alliance. This is by far the mark you’re most likely to see on child-labour-free Easter treats this year. Like the white version of the Fairtrade logo, it only certifies the working conditions used to produce the cocoa, not the other ingredients. However, in terms of the cocoa, you can be confident that itwas produced without child or slave labour and that the farmers were paid a small premium above the regular market price.

Note that some Nestle products don’t display the RA logo and instead have a statement like that at the right, saying they ‘work with’ Rainforest Alliance. We have checked and that does mean that the cocoa is RA certiifed.

If Nestle rings ethical alarm bells for you, read this article about why we’re generally OK to buy from Nestle these days.

So, on to the list! We start with products where all ingredients are Fairtrade, then list ones that are made with certified cocoa only, and finish with recipes to make your own. There’s lots of options this year (which is fantastic!), so click on the links in the table of contents if you want to go directly to something in particular.

Too long? Check out our highlights list instead.

Fully Fairtrade (cocoa, sugar and other risky ingredients all certified)

These are your best option in terms of worker treatment - all ‘risky’ ingredients (cocoa and sugar as well things like vanilla or hazelnuts) have been produced in Fairtrade conditions.

Eggs

egg carton with brightly coloured Tonys Chocolonely sticker

Tonys Chocolonely are selling the only eggs we’ve seen this year that have the fully Fairtrade label on the packaging! They’re selling a 12-pack of mixed-flavour eggs (milk chocolate, dark chocolate, dark almond sea salt, milk caramel sea salt, milk hazelnut) in an actual egg carton! $11 online (where you can also buy it with an Easter chocolate block) at Farros and at selected supermarkets.

brown bag of remarkable eggs with window showing gold and red eggs, flat packets slightly open to show red and gold eggs (this is how they are sold)

The Remarkable Chocolate Co is selling three flavours of Easter eggs this year. There are no certification marks on the packets, but on their website they claim to be ‘fairly traded’. From correspondence, we have learned this means they make their products from certified Fairtrade couverture, although the final products are not certified.

They are selling 6-packs of either milk, dark or raspberry dark eggs for $15-$16 both at Farros or online from their own website; you can also buy bags of 10 eggs (either a mixed bag of dark and raspberry or a bag of milk chocolate eggs) for $20 from on their website. The Remarkable Chocolate Company has won many prizes in the New Zealand Chocolate awards over the years, so these are bound to taste good! Free from gluten, dairy, soy, nuts and palm oil; plastic-free packaging for the six-packs.

Bunnies

dark vertical boxes with bright labels in blue, red and yellow.

The Remarkable Chocolate Co (mentioned above) is also selling bunnies. You can buy their plain dark, raspberry dark or ginger salted caramel chocolate bunnies from Countdown for around $17 for a 120g bunny. Award-winning chocolate that’s free of gluten, dairy, soy, nuts and palm oil.

Other Easter chocolate

Tonys Chocolonely have put out a lemon meringue Fairtrade chocolate block for Easter, $9.99 online (where you can also buy it with an Easter chocolate block) at Farros and at selected supermarkets.

Wellington Chocolate Factory have put out two special products for Easter: chocolate-dipped marshmallow log (125g for $12.50) and a Duck Island Ambrosia chocolate bar (85g for $12.50) - also available together as a bunde. They’re also doing a special Easter tour at their Eva Street base, where you get to chocolate dip your own marshmallows.

If you buy a gift bag of Bennetto’s Fairtrade (and vegan) chocolate online around Easter, it will come with a cute Happy Easter gift tag.

Made with certified cocoa and sugar

Ferrero products don’t show any worker welfare certifications; however, we have learned from their 2021 sustainability report that:

they mostly use cocoa certified by Rainforest Alliance or Fairtrade, with the balance made up of cocoa certified by Fairtrade Certified. We’re less confident of Fairtrade Certified (also called Fairtrade USA), but it is a lot better than nothing; the other two are certifications we strongly recommend.
they source 23% of their sugar as cane sugar and 77% as beet sugar; the cane sugar is all independently certified by Bonsucro (so is slave-free) and beet sugar is a low risk product.
they are also making significant progress in terms of worker welfare with both hazelnuts and palm oil (as well as other ingredients unlikely to be found in Easter eggs).

Based on this we consider their cocoa and sugar to be free of both child labour and forced labour. Ferrero makes Ferrero Rocher and Kinder (both of which have Easter products this year) as well as Nutella and Tictacs. Any Easter products you find from Ferrero or Kinder will be fine, but we’ve listed those we’ve seen below.

Large hollow eggs

We’ve seen the Ferrero Rocher Chocolate egg (which comes with three Ferrero Rocher chocolates) at New World, $15 for a 137.5g egg.

Mid-sized eggs

Kinder Bueno eggs (seen so far only at Fresh Choice) look like they’d be a good choice for an Easter Egg hunt. 140g for $10.20.

Also from Kinder and at Fresh Choice is an Easter basket; 6 eggs, 120g for $14.30.

Mini eggs

Ferrero classic mini eggs (in caramel, hazelnut and cocoa flavours) are available widely; 100g (10 eggs) for $6-7.

Also with Ferrero branding are Ferrero golden eggs (in original and white) - at Countdown, Fresh Choice and SuperValue.

We’ve seen Kinder mini eggs (100g for around $5) at New World and Kinder mini circus eggs (270g for $10-$11) at Countdown and Fresh Choice.

Bunnies and other Easter figurines

Kinder surprise has put out a blue bunny that we’ve seen at New World and The Warehouse and a pink bunny that we’ve seen at Countdown - both 75g for around $6-$7. The Warehouse also has a set of three Kinder bunnies (3x15g for $3.50).

Ferrero also has their classic Easter squirrel, available widely, 90g for $7.50-$10.