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Ferrero denies pressuring Sainsbury s to drop copycat chocolate bars from Dutch disruptor By Anthony Myers A spokesperson for Ferrero has told ConfectioneryNews that it did not ask Sainsbury’s to remove four ‘look-alike’ chocolate bars produced by disruptor brand Tony’s Chocolonely to highlight the use of child labour in the cocoa sector.
The controversial quartet identifies KitKat, Twix, Toblerone and Ferrero Rocher in similar pack designs and formulations, but are created in Tony’s own highly distinctive slab shape.
A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s declined to “
comment on individual suppliers”, while Nestle also declined to comment further on the matter, along with the other manufactures.
The chocolate company has today in Ireland launched four limited edition ‘look-alike’ chocolate bars to raise awareness of the fact that 20 years after the chocolate industry promised to eradicate illegal child labour, it is still widely prevalent.
The company s ‘Sweet Solution’ wants customers to take the time to sign its petition to support the need for human rights legislation that holds companies legally accountable for modern slavery and illegal child labour in their supply chains.
The four bars will be exclusively available in Fresh Dublin stores and online, as well as on on brownthomas.com.
Paul Schoenmakers, Head of Impact at Tony’s Chocolonely, says: “15 years after we launched our first chocolate bar to call on the industry, not enough has changed.
Each Sweet Solution bar features Tony’s petition’s web address on the inside of its wrapper
Tony’s Chocolonely’s new range was dropped by Sainsbury’s after it faced pressure from rival suppliers, the Dutch chocolatier has claimed.
The four-strong Sweet Solution lineup comprises variants with pack designs and formulations similar to Kit Kat, Twix, Toblerone and Ferrero Rocher (rsp: £3.50/180g). The bars themselves are in Tony’s typical slab shape.
The quartet is part of the Dutch confectioner’s new push for its online petition. It calls for human rights legislation that holds companies legally accountable for modern slavery and illegal child labour in their supply chains. Each of the new chocolate bars features the petition’s web address on the inside of its wrapper.
Tony’s Chocolonely ‘look-alike’ bars leave bitter taste with big chocolate firms By Anthony Myers Tony’s Chocolonely has alleged that some of the industry’s big chocolate makers have put pressure on UK supermarkets to remove the Dutch company’s ‘Sweet Solution’ bars because “they didn’t want to be associated with the claims of illegal labour in the chocolate industry”.
The four limited edition ‘look-alike’ chocolate bars are designed to raise awareness that 20 years after the chocolate industry promised to eradicate illegal child labour, it is still widely prevalent.
It also follows the release of the US Government sponsored NORC Report from 2020 that called out the cocoa industry’s failure to address numerous human rights violations in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.