• Strategic partnership to produce chocolate from fully traceable sustainable cocoa
• Barry Callebaut installs dedicated cocoa butter tank to guarantee full traceability
• Cocoa beans directly sourced from Tony’s Chocolonely’s partner cooperatives in West Africa

The Barry Callebaut Group, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, and Tony’s Chocolonely, the Amsterdam-based chocolate company committed to bringing an end to slavery in the chocolate industry, today announced their strategic partnership agreement to produce chocolate from fully traceable sustainable cocoa. Barry Callebaut installs a dedicated cocoa butter tank in its factory in Wieze/Belgium to produce cocoa butter from traceable beans sourced from Tony’s Chocolonely’s partner cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire. With the cocoa liquor already being produced from beans from their partner cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, all cocoa products in Tony’s Chocolonely’s chocolate will be traceable.

Tony’s Chocolonely has built direct, long-term relationships with the farmers who grow its cocoa, to solve the underlying causes of modern slavery. Employing an industry scalable process, Tony’s Chocolonely works with Barry Callebaut to create traceable bean-to-bar offerings. Barry Callebaut and Tony’s Chocolonely have cooperated since 2005, when Barry Callebaut started to produce their Fairtrade cocoa liquor. As of 2013 Barry Callebaut produced chocolate for Tony’s Chocolonely that included traceable sustainable cocoa liquor. Under the new partnership agreement, also the cocoa butter used in the recipes will become fully traceable, and sourced from Tony’s Chocolonely’s partner cooperatives.

Antoine de Saint-Affrique, CEO of Barry Callebaut, says: “We have a long-standing commitment to sustainable cocoa, working directly with cocoa-growing communities on-the-ground. Having made sustainable cocoa one of the four pillars of our strategy, we champion the development of a fully sustainable chocolate value chain. This partnership with Tony’s Chocolonely is a milestone in our efforts to provide fully sustainable products to our customers.”

Eva Gouwens, First Lady of Chocolate of Tony’s Chocolonely, adds: “It is our mission to make 100% slave free chocolate the norm in the industry. Our sourcing model is based on five principles. We source our cocoa beans directly from our partner cooperatives and follow the beans along the supply chain, we pay a higher price, we have entered into long-term contracts with the farmers, we strengthen their organizations and improve quality and productivity together. We are proud to say that all cocao beans in Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate willbecome fully traceable and come from partner cooperatives we have long-term relationships with. It is possible. So we invite the rest of the industry to join us in making chocolate 100% slave free.”

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About Barry Callebaut Group:
With annual sales of about CHF 6.2 billion (EUR 5.6 billion / USD 6.6 billion) in fiscal year 2014/15, the Zurich-based Barry Callebaut Group is the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products – from sourcing and processing cocoa beans to producing the finest chocolates, including chocolate fillings, decorations and compounds. The Group runs more than 50 production facilities worldwide and employs a diverse and dedicated global workforce of more than 9,000 people.
The Barry Callebaut Group serves the entire food industry, from industrial food manufacturers to artisanal and professional users of chocolate, such as chocolatiers, pastry chefs, bakers, hotels, restaurants or caterers. The two global brands catering to the specific needs of these Gourmet customers are Callebaut® and Cacao Barry®. The Barry Callebaut Group is committed to sustainable cocoa production to help ensure future supplies of cocoa and improve farmer livelihoods. It supports the Cocoa Horizons Foundation in its goal to shape a sustainable cocoa and chocolate future.

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About Tony’s Chocolonely (www.tonyschocolonely.com):
Tony’s Chocolonely exists to end slavery in the chocolate industry. The Amsterdam based social enterprise envisions 100% slave free chocolate and grew out to be the second largest chocolate brand in the Netherlands. Tony’s Chocolonely was founded in 2005 by Dutch journalists when they discovered the world’s largest chocolate companies were buying cocoa from plantations that used child slavery. They turned themselves into the police as “chocolate criminals” who had purchased and eaten illegally manufactured products. Tony’s Chocolonely has since dedicated its efforts to educating people about the inequality in the chocolate industry, as well as creating its own chocolate bar as an example of the reality of slave free chocolate. As part of the company’s traceable bean-to-bar concept, Tony’s Chocolonely has built direct, long-term relationships with the farmers in Ivory Coast and Ghana who grow its cocoa to solve the underlying causes of modern slavery.