Cadbury

Is Cadburys an ethical and sustainable chocolate brand? 

Cadburys is a chocolate brand owned by Mondelēz. Cadburys’ products can be found in many of The Good Shopping Guide’s Ethical Ratings Tables including Chocolate, Biscuits, Ice Cream and various other food sectors. Cadburys does not currently meet our ethical benchmark and we hope that the brand will make necessary changes so that progress will be made in the future. In order for this brand to increase confidence among its consumers it could submit itself for Ethical Accreditation, allowing The Good Shopping Guide to conduct further detailed assessments that will result in recommendations for ethical improvements.

Find out more about Fairtrade chocolate with The Good Shopping Guide to Ethical Chocolate and compare to other brands in our Ethical Chocolate Ratings Table.

What does Cadburys do?

Cadburys was started up in 1824 by John Cadburys in Birmingham, initially selling cocoa and drinking chocolate. Since then Cadburys has expanded, now operating in 50 countries worldwide and selling a large range of chocolate-based products including vegan chocolate, biscuits and ice cream.

See how Cadburys and other brands rank in these sectors with our Ethical Biscuits Ratings Table and our Ethical Ice Cream Ratings Table.

In 2010 Cadburys was sold to the parent company Mondelēz International for £11.5 billio, making them another addition to the Mondelēz chocolate brand portfolio.

For which criteria does Cadburys perform poorly? 

Cadburys scored low in Animal welfare, Political donations and GM products. Its parent company Mondelēz released a policy on Genetically-Modified ingredients that suggests the usage of this within their products, find out more on this here.

Animal Welfare within Cadburys’ parent company is considered, but animal testing is not ruled out. The company claims that it does not test on animals, but cannot guarantee this for the whole supply chain. When the Business Benchmark for farm animal welfare was conducted, Mondelēz scored F, the lowest possible score available. This shows that they provided little to no evidence that they regarded Animal Welfare as a business issue. It also ranks in a low place for Political Donations as it has donated thousands to US political parties in the last few years.

Past Criticisms of Cadburys’ ethical record

Cadburys has faced criticism after allegations of child labour came to light in April 2022 when video evidence was found through an investigation in Ghana which is a part of Cadburys’ supply chain. Also, Cadburys will be withdrawing the Fairtrade certification and transferring this to the back of its products as a partner, replacing it with their own scheme Cocoa Life. We recommend that all chocolate brands implement an independent and non-biased trading standard scheme, such as Fairtrade. Greenpeace also conducted an investigation that uncovered complex soya supply chains, linking Cadburys and other British dairy products to environmental devastation in Brazil.

In what areas does Cadburys score well for its ethics?

Cadburys performed well in regard to its Environmental Reports and vegan options with no Armaments or Nuclear criticisms. Mondelēz laid out a large range of environmental targets in its Environmental Report.

How can Cadburys improve its ethical rating?

The Good Shopping Guide calculates a brand’s Ethical Score through three main criteria: the Environment, People and Animals. For Cadburys to reach the minimum ethical benchmark required to receive Ethical Accreditation, it must resolve the issues discovered within the supply chain considering both Animal Welfare and deforestation issues. Also, removing Genetically-Modified ingredients from its products would be beneficial.

Why not check out The Good Shopping Guide‘s Ethical Accreditation if you work for or with a chocolate company that places ethics high on its priority list? This certification of sustainability and ethics has benefited chocolate manufacturers including Seed & Bean, Alter Eco, Wunder Workshop, and Raw Living. Contact us to learn more, or complete our short form for an initial evaluation.