For many years, child labor in the cultivation of cocoa beans for export as a key ingredient for making chocolate has been a rampant problem in West Africa, with children held back from attending school and forced to harvest the crop on farms.
Though not many consumers in Japan are aware of or sensitive to the issue, some chocolate producers in the country have recently decided to take a stand through a campaign to source child labor-free cocoa and provide local farmers with assistance for improving working conditions.
One such company is Yuraku Confectionery, whose main product is its Black Thunder chocolate bar. The chocolate-maker announced in 2020 that all the ingredients used in its products would be sourced from farms free of child labor by 2025.