Chocolate

• Made by the entrant from bean to bar in the USA or US territories.
• Free of artificial ingredients, including colors, flavors and preservatives.
• Free of genetically modified ingredients.
• All ingredients are grown with minimal or no use of synthetic herbicides, pesticides, fungicides or fertilizers.
• Adherent to the FDA standards of identity for chocolate.
• Made by a crafter that is an upstanding member of the good food community, committed to equity and inclusion in all levels of their business,* as exemplified through integrating these practices:
  • Creating a safe and healthy work environment where employees receive a fair wage, are safe and respected at work and have access to the resources they need to keep themselves healthy.
  • Offering a diversity, equity, and inclusion training to staff members and/or leadership annually.
  • Thoughtfully acknowledging the heritage of culturally-specific food on websites, packaging and/or marketing materials.
  • For the small percentage of Good Food community that operates on a significantly larger scale, meeting additional criteria related to board diversity, maternity leave and employment practices.*

Cacao must be sourced in compliance with the following standards:

• The origin of beans must be traceable, ordinarily to a particular growing region of a country and ideally to a processing facility, farm or cooperative.
• Bean sourcers must ensure that price premiums meet or exceed Fair Trade minimums relative to the world commodity price, either through direct trade or through publicly stated policies and in-place processes.
• Sourced with price transparency throughout the supply chain.
• Wherever possible, sourced from farms or cooperatives where transparent, documented practices ensure fair and humane work standards for all laborers.
• Sourced from farms or cooperatives with a transparent, documented emphasis on sustainable farming practices including: water conservation and minimizing or eliminating use of synthetic inputs.

Other ingredients (cocoa butter, lecithin, vanilla, milk powder, flavorings, inclusions, etc.) must be sourced in compliance with the following standards:

• Traceable.
• Wherever possible, sourced from farms or cooperatives where transparent, documented practices ensure fair and humane work standards for all laborers.
• All dairy and other animal-derived products should be sourced in compliance with the GAP guidelines that define “good animal husbandry.”^**
• Sugar must be organic or Fair Trade certified.***

_{*Check if you are in the 2% of companies meeting the Good Food Foundation definition of large scale, and review the addition criteria on the Rules & Regulations page.
**For ingredients that cannot be traced for animal welfare, such as milk powder, organic certification will be accepted.
***Sugar traceable to the farm level will be evaluated on a case by case basis}