Amsterdam/Utrecht, 6 November 2009 - The arrival of the first bag of UTZ CERTIFIED cocoa tomorrow in the port of Amsterdam marks the beginning of a large-scale improvement of cocoa production practices worldwide.
On the initiative of UTZ CERTIFIED and Solidaridad, cocoa farmers, large companies and development and environmental organizations have joined forces with the goal of sustainable cocoa production and improvement of the farmers’ livelihoods.
The initiators of the program have been working together over the past two years with Ahold, Cargill, Ecom, Heinz Benelux, Mars, Nestlé, Oxfam Novib, WWF, the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative and partners in producing countries.
The first UTZ CERTIFIED cocoa comes from two cooperatives in Côte d’Ivoire which were the first to receive UTZ certification last September.