Slave-free cocoa products available in New Zealand
last updated: September 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
- Slave-free cocoa products available in New Zealand
- chocolate blocks
- hot chocolate
- chocolate bars
- chocolate biscuits
- chocolate ice cream and frozen desserts
- cocoa powder and baking supplies
- Chocolate protein bars, muesli bars and granola
- chocolate sweets
- chocolate spread and sauce
- chocolate milk (including plant-based milks)
- toiletries, cosmetics and supplements
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 December 2024. 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 N.Z.
- pure dark chocolate (70%) - vegan friendly
- extra dark chocolate (85%) - vegan friendly
- rich milk chocolate (40%)
- dark raspberry chocolate (55%) - vegan friendly
- dark passionfruit (55%) - vegan friendly
- dark chocolate with mint (70%) - vegan friendly
- 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.
The Belgian organic chocolate collection available at The Warehouse
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)
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
Single-origin Samoan chocolate blocks
- Whittakers single origin Samoan cocoa 70% dark chocolat
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
Rolo block
Aero blocks:
- milk chocolate
- minty bubbles
- caramel
Woolworths own brand blocks:
- white
- milk
- salted caramel
- hazelnut
Nestle Crunch
Nestle Chokito
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
- Wild Bean Cafe (the cafes at BP petrol stations) (Fairtrade)
- Trade Aid hot chocolate (WFTO)
- Kokako (Fairtrade)
- Devonport Chocolates (Fairtrade) - comes in dark, classic and spicy variants.
- Coffee Lala (WFTO)
- Prima Roastery (Fairtrade)
- Wellington Chocolate Factory (Fairtrade)
- Bennettos (Fairtrade)
- Good Fortune drinking chocolate (Fairtrade)
- ONE hot chocolate (sold in sachets for motels etc.) (Fairtrade)
- Flying cup hot drinking chocolate (Fairtrade) - available from office supply stores
Samoan hot chocolate and cacao husk tea
blocks of koko Samoa, often unbranded, sold in areas with a substantial Samoan population
Samāori:
- cacao
- cacao husk tea (a low calorie hot chocolate alternative!)
Hot chocolate with Rainforest Alliance certification
Milo
Woolworths own brand:
- hot chocolate
- instant drinking chocolate (can mix with cold milk)
- mocha
- cappucino
- deluxe
- dark deluxe
- peppermint
- mayan chilli
- caramel
Douwe Egberts cacoa fantasy powder - available from office supply stores
Aero hot chocolate
Scorched almonds hot chocolate
Notes:
- Devonport Chocolates products other than their hot chocolate don’t use Fairtrade certified cocoa.
- 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
- Vego (Fairtrade) vegan hazelnut chocolate bar
- Tony’s Chocolonelys minis 37g (milk and milk chocolate caramel sea salt)
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:
- creamy milk
- dark chocolate
- white chocolate
Whittakers toffee milk
KitKat, all flavours, including:
- classic (various sizes)
- chunky chocolate
- chocolate fudge sundae
Pixie caramel
Smarties bar
Chokito
Nestle Aero bars all flavours, which are:
- milk chocolate
- minty bubbles
- caramel
Kinnerton milk chocolate bars
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 batch mixed home style 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
NiceBlocks 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
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)
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
cocoa powder and baking supplies
We no longer know of any options for food-grade slave-free cocoa butter. In the toiletries section below we do have options for people wanting to make body butters etc.
baking ingredients with WFTO or Fairtrade certification
cocoa:
- Trade Aid (WFTO)
baking ingredients using Samoan cocoa
cacao nibs and whole beans
baking ingredients with Rainforest Alliance certification
cocoa/cacao
- Nestle Baker’s Choice
- Market Kitchen (Warehouse own brand)
- Woolworths own brand
- Countdown Macro cacao powder (also organic)
- West Coast Cocoa company baking cocoa
dark chocolate chips:
- Woolworths own brand
- Market Kitchen (Warehouse own brand)
dark chocolate drops:
milk chocolate drops:
white chocolate drops:
dark baking chocolate
milk baking chocolate:
chocolate melts:
cacao nibs:
Woolworths Macro (also organic)
We no longer know of any options for food-grade slave-free cocoa butter.
Chocolate protein bars, muesli bars and granola
Chantal organics Cocoa crunch & raspberry granola (Fairtrade cocoa)
Nice & Natural all bars that have chocolate in them are now made with Rainforest Alliance cocoa. Flavours include:
nut butter:
- peanut butter and jelly
- peanut butter and salted caramel
chocolate nut bars
- salted caramel
- apricot
chocolate thickshake
regular nut bars
- mixed berry
- peanut and cashew
Noshu indulgence bars (RA certification) - a low sugar product, but only using certified 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
- Quality Street (all products)
- Woolworths premium milk chocolate almonds
- Belgian chocolate seashells and pralines (available in The Warehouse)
- Alison’s pantry chocolate snacks (available at PakNSave and New World bulk bins)
- After 8s thin coated peppermint slices (available in The Warehouse and Woolworths
- Noshu chocolate balls milk,dark, and white chocolate sweets (only at Low Carb Haven - online)
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
- Fix and Fogg dark chocolate peanut butter (made with Rainforest Alliance certified chocolate from Whittakers)
chocolate milk (including plant-based milks)
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.)
Little Island chocolate coconut milk (Fairtrade but not displaying the logo)
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
- LUSH - 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. Most of their cocoa butter is fair trade but the cocoa butter in 2-3 products isn’t; none of the other cocoa products they use (e.g. cocoa powder) are currently fair trade. The cocoa butter in three products comes from the incredible Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó: check them out - I was humbled to read of their commitment to peace-making in very difficult circumstances and would love to support them. Search for your nearest LUSH store here.
- Jeuneora Beauty Sleep adaptogenic powder (hot chocolate flavour) is made with Fairtrade certified cocoa.
If you wish to make your own cosmetics, Go Native supplies non-food-grade cocoa butter for this purpose. They have two products, both of which are certified fair trade but both through certifiers we rarely see in New Zealand. This means Just Kai hasn’t analysed these certifications in the same detail we have analysed the certifications we recommend throughout this document. However, based on information in the International Guide to Fair Trade Labels, we make the following recommendations:
- Fair for Life seems to be an excellent standard, with similar standards to Fairtrade applied with similar rigour. Go Native supplies non-food-grade cocoa butter certified to this standard. We are confident this will have been produced without child or slave labour. They also supply both refined and unrefined shea butter certified through Fair for Life.
- 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 do not recommend Fairtrade USA products. However, a product certified through them is still less likely to have used child or slave labour than a product with no certification at all. If you are making cosmetics and can’t do without deodorised cocoa butter, the deodorised cocoa butter certified by Fairtrade USA sold by Go Native is probably your best option.