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An e-mail exchange
About a week ago I posted something about "Chocolate Slavery". I went shopping at Albert Heijn's and I was stunned to see so many different kinds of Easter Eggs. None of them produced under circumstances that would be regarded as 'humane'. They do sell fair and organic chocolate, they even have their own brand of organic products. So I wondered why they didn't have fair organic Easter Eggs, they do produce their own fair chocolate bars anyway... I decided to investigate and send an e-mail to their Customers' Service:
Dear Sir/Madam,
It's hard to ignore the fact that it's almost Easter. At Albert Heijn's you can choose from a wide variety of chocolate eggs and Easter Bunnies among other stuff.
My question is about chocolate at Albert Heijn's. I checked the easter eggs and other chocolate products, but couldn't find Fair Trade brands or other certified products.
I looked on the wrapping of Albert Heijn's Organic Chocolate, but apart from the announcement that no pesticides were used and the cultivation of the crops was done according to organic standards, there was no reference to the social circumstances under which the cocoa and sugar were produced.
I think that's very unfortunate, because I need to go downtown to the Fair Trade Original Store or the World Shope to buy chocolate. Being able to buy "Slave Free" chocolate at Albert Heijn's would have been convenient for me. I know that Albert Heijn's is selling Fair Trade Original Sprinkles (dark), but that's the only chocolate I could find in the store. So maybe it's an idea to make Fair Trade more widely available at Albert Heijn's?Yours sincerely,
Inge.
Some time passed and I didn't think I would have any reaction, but it came:
Dear Madam,
We want to thank you for your e-mail. You are asking to add more Fair Trade products to our assortment, but it's not that simple. If we add a new product to the shelves, that means another product has to be discarded. Shelf space in the stores is limited. We always have to make certain choices, but we have given your suggestion to the salesperson responsible for the assortment, but given the fact of limited shelf space we can't guarantee that your suggestion will result in the availability of those products in your store.
Nevertheless we want to thank you for the effort you've taken to inform us about your idea.Yours sincerely,
Albert Heijn Customer Service.
I thought it was a neat reply. Of course I understand they can't discard of certain products just like that. They also have signed their contracts. Nevertheless I think it's good to communicate this kind of wishes as a customer. I noticed lately that Albert Heijn is changing it's market strategy to measure itself a more 'sociable' image. This week they announced that they don't want to sell schol en tong during certain periods of the season because of overfishing. They want to sell fish that was caught by means of sustainabily and asked the WWF for advice. I'm very pleased to read about those initiatives. I recently gave up eating cod because of overfishing. I do want to eat fish, but it has to be caught by means of sustainability principles.
Besides, most organic and Fair Trade products I want to eat can be bought at Albert Heijn's. I don't need to look for the Dutch equivalent of Whole Foods. I personally don't know about many other supermarkets who sell as many organic and fair trade products as they do.
But considering all these facts I think they could swap some brands of chocolate. They have half an isle full of I don't know how many brands of chocolate. Only one of them is probably 'fair' and that is their own organic milk chocolate. They must have at least a fifty other brands and flavours of chocolate from Nestlé and similar companies. I don't think it's impossible to have a at least one or two different types of fair chocolate. Well, let's wait, maybe something changes. I wonder if they will make Fair Trade Chocolate Letters for St. Nick's Day and sell them either at Albert Heijn's or elsewhere.
In the mean time I went looking for other supermarkets selling Fair Trade chocolate. Coincidentally I found out that the other big supermarket chain at the opposite side of the plaza where Albert Heijn also sits, sells the chocolate I want. So I don't need to bike downtown any more. I just go to that supermarket buying the Fair Trade items Albert Heijn doesn't sell, like the the Nutella-like Fair Trade Original "Chocolate Paste" and the Fair Trade Original chocolate bars.
Link:
- TransFair USA, to find out which store sells fair trade chocolate (and other stuff) in your town.
Posted under Social Issues
This post was written by Inge on March 14, 2007
