Slave-free cocoa products available in New Zealand

last updated: November 2024

To learn why we consider these products slave free (and why this is important), check out our guide.

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Table of Contents

chocolate blocks

Chocolate blocks with WFTO certification

Trade Aid - available at their own shops, online and in some supermarkets, organic stores and other grocery outlets. All of the Trade Aid shops will be closed by January 2025. Sweet Justice, the factory making these products closed in July 2024 so over the next few months the following flavours will gradually sell out around Aotearoa/New Zealand.

  • pure dark chocolate (70%) - Vegan accredited
  • extra dark chocolate (85%) - Vegan accredited
  • rich milk chocolate (40%)
  • dark raspberry chocolate (55%) - Vegan accredited
  • dark passionfruit (55%) - Vegan accredited
  • dark chocolate with mint (70%) - Vegan accredited
  • dark chocolate with salt toffee crisp (70%)

Chocolate blocks with Fairtrade certification

  • Tonys Chocolonely, available online or from some supermarkets. All flavours, including:

    • milk chocolate
    • milk chocolate caramel sea salt
    • white chocolate raspberry popping candy
    • milk chocolate hazelnut
    • dark chocolate
    • dark chocolate almond seasalt
    • dark milk pretzel toffee

  • Green and Blacks - organics range only. All other Green and Blacks products are certified through Cocoa Life, an in-house certification that is much less robust:

    • butterscotch
    • dark
    • 85% dark.

  • Guylian milk and dark chocolate blocks. Note that these are also made with stevia, rather than sugar, so are a good option for people limiting their sugar intake.

  • Wellington Chocolate Factory, just the following flavours (look for the logo):

    • coconut milk chocolate
    • original milk chocolate
    • raspberry milk chocolate
    • coffee milk chocolate
    • salted caramel milk chocolate
    • salted caramel chocolate

  • Bennetto Chocolate, all flavours (which are also all vegan):

    • amaranth and sea salt
    • raspberry in dark
    • pistachios in dark
    • salted caramel in dark
    • mint and cacao nibs
    • intense dark
    • exceptionally dark
    • original dark
    • coffee in Madagascar
    • toasted hazelnut
    • pistachios in dark (note that the cocoa in this isn’t Fairtrade BUT it’s still on our list as it’s Samoan instead, so is still slave-free)

  • The Belgian organic chocolate collection available at The Warehouse

  • Pico chocolate, available in health food shops and some New World and PakNSave supermarkets, all flavours (all of which are also vegan) including:

    • hazelnut milk
    • sea salt
    • salted caramel
    • super dark
    • mint crisp

  • Vego vegan hazelnut chocolate bar available at the Vegan shop and online

Single-origin Samoan chocolate blocks

  • Whittakers single origin Samoan cocoa 70% dark chocolate

Chocolate blocks with Rainforest Alliance certification

  • Whittakers entire range, with the exception of their single-origin Samoan and Nicargaguan chocolate. This includes their 250g classic blocks, e.g.:

    • berry forest
    • creamy milk
    • dark Ghana
    • almond gold
    • salted caramel
    • white chocolate
    • hokey pokey

  • also Whittakers 100g specialty blocks, which include:

    • extra dark (86%)
    • intense dark (92%)
    • coffee supreme flat white
    • Italian piedmont hazelnut
    • Nelson pear and manuka honey
    • saffron salted caramel

  • Kit Kat chocolate blocks, all flavours, including:

    • family break
    • dark chocolate
    • chocolate whirl

  • Crunch block

  • Rolo block

  • Aero blocks:

    • milk chocolate
    • minty bubbles
    • caramel

  • Chokito block

  • Woolworths own brand blocks:

    • white
    • milk
    • salted caramel
    • hazelnut

hot chocolate

Looking for commercial quantities or single-serve sachets? Check out our list for commercial and corporate customers.

Hot chocolate with WFTO or Fairtrade certification

Samoan hot chocolate and cacao husk tea

Hot chocolate with Rainforest Alliance certification

  • Milo

  • Aero hot chocolate

  • Scorched almonds hot choclate

  • Woolworths own brand:

    • hot chocolate
    • instant drinking chocolate (can mix with cold milk)
    • mocha
    • cappucino

  • Douwe Egberts cacoa fantasy powder - available from office supply stores

  • West Coast Cocoa

    • deluxe
    • dark deluxe
    • peppermint
    • mayan chilli
    • caramel

Notes:

  1. Devonport Chocolates products other than their hot chocolate don’t use Fairtrade certified cocoa.
  2. Milo and Nesquik products other than actual drinking chocolate powders (e.g. cereal, muesli bars, drink boxes) don’t appear to use Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa.

chocolate bars

Chocolate bars with WFTO certification

  • Trade Aid 50g milk chocolate and dark chocolate bars

Chocolate bars with Fairtrade certification

Chocolate bars with Rainforest Alliance certification

  • Mars bars including fun-size

  • Whittakers slabs and mini slabs, all flavours, including:

    peanut slab

    • creamy milk
    • almond slab
    • berry and biscuit
    • hokey pokey

  • Whittakers bars, all flavours, including:

    • fruit and nut
    • dark Ghana
    • white chocolate

  • Whittakers sante, all flavours, including:

    • crmy milk
    • dark chocolate
    • white chocolate

  • Whittakers toffee milk

  • KitKat, all flavours, including:

    • classic (various sizes)
    • chunky chocolate
    • chocolate fudge sundae

  • Nestle Aero bars all flavours, which are:

    • milk chocolate
    • minty bubbles
    • caramel

  • Smarties bar

  • Pixie caramel

  • Chokito

chocolate biscuits

  • all Griffins chocolate biscuits except cameo cremes (which are made in a different factory with a different ingredient supply chain). These include:

    • squiggles
    • toffee pops
    • mallow puffs
    • cookie bear cookies
    • snaps
    • 200g Cookies range

chocolate ice cream and frozen desserts

Ice cream and frozen desserts with Fairtrade certification

  • Ben and Jerry’s whole range (their tubs and slices are widely available, or buy ice cream cones from their scoop shops). Flavours include:

    • chocolate chip cookie dough (in both dairy and dairy free versions)
    • chocolate fudge brownie (in both dairy and dairy free versions)
    • triple caramel chunk
    • phish food (chocolate ice cream with marshmallow, caramel swirls & chocolatey fish)
    • half baked (chocolate & vanilla ice creams mixed with chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough & fudge brownies)

  • Little Island vegan ice cream (also made with Fairtrade sugar; note that they do not display the certification mark). Flavours with chocolate include:

    • chocolate
    • triple choc raspberry
    • mint choc chip

  • Nice Blocks chocolate ice blocks (also made with Fairtrade sugar; note that they do not display the certification mark)

Ice cream and frozen desserts with Rainforest Alliance certification

  • Magnum ice creams all flavours and sizes, both on sticks and in tubs. Flavours include:

    • classic (both dairy and dairy free)
    • almond (both dairy and dairy free)
    • white
    • peppermint
    • honeycomb crunch
    • dairy free sea salt and caramel
    • luxe ruby and raspberry

  • Trumpets all flavours. Flavours include:

    • chocolate (including a vegan gluten free version)
    • boysenberry (including a vegan gluten free version)
    • vanilla
    • mint
    • jelly tip
    • banoffee pie

  • Kāpiti ice cream all flavours and sizes, both on sticks in tubs or by the scoop. Flavours include:

    • caramel and almond
    • central Otago black Doris plum
    • rhubarb and raspberry crumble
    • hazelnut and chocolate
    • chocolate fudge brownie (plant based)
    • salted caramel and macadamia (plant based)

cocoa powder and baking supplies

Below are options for a range of baking supplies. Note we no longer know of any options for food-grade cocoa butter that’s slave-free, but in the toiletries section are options for making cosmetics e.g. body butters.

Baking ingredients with WFTO certification

Baking ingredients using Samoan cocoa

Baking ingredients with Rainforest Alliance certification

chocolate protein bars, muesli bars and granola

  • Chantal organics granola – Cocoa Crunch & Raspberry Granola uses Fairtrade cocoa

  • Nice & Natural bars – any bars that have chocolate in them are now made with Rainforest Alliance cocoa. Flavours include:

    • nut butter:

      • peanut butter & jelly with jelly pieces
      • peanut butter

    • chocolate nut bars

      • salted caramel
      • apricot

    • roasted nut bars

      • mixed berry
      • peanut and cashew

  • Noshu indulgence bars – a low sugar product, but only using Rainforest Alliance cocoa for the following flavours:

    • choc mint
    • double choc brownie

chocolate sweets

Chocolate sweets with Fairtrade certification

  • Guylian seashell chocolates (Fairtrade)

Chocolate sweets with Rainforest Alliance certification

  • Waikato Valley boxed nuts range (scorched almonds - in milk, caramel and white chocolate - and milk chocolate fruit and nut) and their bagged sweets range (chocolate coated pretzels, raisins, hokey pokey etc. and coconut rough). Available only in The Warehouse.
  • Waikato Valley dark chocolate coffee beans (also only at The Warehouse)
  • Smarties
  • Rolo
  • Quality Street (all products)
  • After 8s mint chocolate thins (available at The Warehouse and Woolworths)
  • Woolworths premium milk chocolate almonds
  • Alison’s pantry chocolate snacks (available at PakNSave and New World bulk bins)
  • Belgian chocolate seashells and pralines (available in The Warehouse)
  • Noshu chocolate balls milk, dark, and white chocolate sweets (available online at Low Carb Haven)

chocolate spread and sauce

Chocolate spreads and sauces with WFTO or Fairtrade certification

  • Vego chocolate hazelnut spread (Fairtrade)
  • Trade Aid chocolate sauce (WFTO)

Chocolate spreads with Rainforest Alliance certification

  • Woolworths Essentials choc hazelnut spread
  • Market Kitchen chocolate hazelnut spread

chocolate milk (including plant-based milks

  • Little Island chocolate coconut milk (Fairtrade but not displaying the logo)

  • Otis oat milk chocolate oat milk (Fairtrade cocoa. Note that this product uses the single-ingredient Fairtrade logo: only the cocoa is Fairtrade, not the sugar.

  • make your own from Rainforest Alliance-certified powders. These are the ones that claim to dissolve well in cold milk:

    • Woolworths own brand instant drinking chocolate
    • Nesquik chocolate milk powder
    • Milo

toiletries, cosmetics and supplements

Products with Fairtrade cocoa/cocoa butter

  • LUSH products WHERE MARKED (Fairtrade). LUSH sell a range of bath, body, face and hair products, many of which contain cocoa butter. Always check the ingredients list: if the cocoa is fair trade it will say so after the ingredient name, if it doesn’t it isn’t.
  • The Body Shop sell a range of bath, body, face and hair products, many of which contain cocoa and cocoa butter. The Body Shop doesn’t have certification marks but source from Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union, who are themselves a Fairtrade certified supplier
  • Jeuneora Beauty Sleep adaptogenic powder (hot chocolate flavour) is made with Fairtrade certified cocoa.

ingredients for making your own toiletries and cosmetics

Fairly traded non-food cocoa butter is often certified through two schemes we otherwise rarely see in Aotearoa/New Zealand:

  • Fair for Life seems to be an excellent standard, with similar standards to Fairtrade applied with similar rigour. We are confident this will have been produced without child or slave labour.
  • Fairtrade USA on the other hand, seems not to be a very good certification. It has good standards in terms of child and slave labour, but there is clearly a lot of concern that they are not effectively identifying suppliers that violate these standards.

We are more confident of Fair for Life as a certification, and suggest you buy products with that certification where possible.

Unrefined cocoa butter is available from:

  • Go Native (certified through Fair for Life - our preferred certification
  • Pure Nature (certified through Fairtrade USA)

Refined/deodorised cocoa butter, certified through Fairtrade USA is available from:

If you are making your own cosmetics you may also be using shea butter. This is also an ingredient with a significant risk of child labour in its supply chain. Go Native supplies both refined and unrefined shea butter certified through Fair for Life. Pure Nature sells refined shea butter, both organic and not, also certified through Fair for Life. Note that Pure Nature’s unrefined shea butter isn’t certified by any fair trade organisation. Pure Nature also sells WFTO-certified fair trade cane sugar for sugar scrubs.

fundraising chocolate and branded corporate gifts

Chocolate blocks with Fairtrade certification

  • Bennetto 100g dark chocolate blocks in flavoured and plain options. Ordered in packs of 14 blocks.

Chocolate bars with Rainforest Alliance certification