[Avodah] Chocolate Production

[Akiva Miller]

.
R' Micha Berger wrote:

> The OU does not raise questions of child slavery and the
> cruelty routinely imposed on the slaves who pick our chocolate.

If I understand correctly, that's because those questions are not their
field of expertise. They don't support slavery, chalila, but the
enforcement of such issues are better left to the government and/or "fair
trade" organizations. That approach is very reasonable to me. This
paragraph wouldn't justify a post to Avodah, but it does segue into RMB's
second comment:

> And whether it's mutar to support the industry, if our trade
> is so small as to have no measurable effect so it isn't even
> mesayeia, etc...

Is it really that small? Hashgachos routinely advertise that shomrei
mitzvos constitute only a fraction of the consumers who look for a hechsher
when shopping. Manufacturers pay lots of money to get a hechsher on their
label, and for good reason. The policies set by the hashgachos may be more
powerful than we realize. Perhaps mesayeia *IS* (or should be) a relevant
factor.

For example, for those who don't remember the incident 18 years ago, read
here about when Stella D'Oro cancelled their plans to switch from OU Pareve
to OUD:
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/nyregion/of-milk-and-cookies-or-how-orthodox-jews-saved-an-italian-recipe.html?auth=login-email&login=email

Akiva Miller
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