EcoSocial certification aims at auditing businesses, farms and groups of producers through human, social, environmental and economical development criteria. To be certified operations must present an initial diagnostic, pointing the social and environmental demands to be overcome. The operation must present an Action Plan detailing how the improvements will be implemented, with the purpose to fulfill all the minimum criteria listed in the Guidelines and, at least, two progress criteria related to environmental development and two related to the human and social, during the year of certification. Criteria for Environmental Development: * Adjustment to environmental legislation and regularization along environment agencies;* Environmental Conservation;* Environmental Recovery;* Adequate management of water resources;* Adequate management of solid residues;* Adequate management of liquid effluents;* Adequate management of gaseous effluents;* Biodiversity conservation and increment;* Reduction of environmental impacts generated by the production activity;* Reduction in the emission of greenhouse effect gases;* Support to Environmental Education;* Other environmental aspects specific to each operation. Criteria for Human and Social Development: * Commitment to Transparency;* Lawful property;* Adjustment to labor legislation and regularization along labor agencies;* Support to union workers;* Increment on work safety and salubrity;* Equal ri9ghts and benefits to full time and part time workers;* Partaking in results;* Workers training;* Training for producers groups management;* Technical training for groups of producers;* Ban to child labor;* No discrimination: social, racial, religious, political, gender;* Support to fundamental and continued education;* Improvement on living, food and health conditions;* Support to the woman worker, support to the pregnant and lactant;* Support to the aged;* Prevention and support to addictions users of tobacco, spirits and drugs);* Support to social organization and participation;* Other social aspects specific for each operation. Criteria for Economical Development: * Promoting a fair trade relationship;* Support to open, transparent and durable negotiations among the parties;* Foment Social and Environmental Development in the productive chain, through paymentof EcoSocial Premium;* Establishment of better production practices aiming at product quality.* In EcoSocial Program, some criteria are considered critical, in other words, they determine suspension or cancelling of certification, even if other criteria are being fulfilled. They are:* Break of traceability.* Deforestation non-authorized by environment agencies.* Throw of effluents in water bodies in non conformity with Environment Laws.ECOSOCIAL CERTIFICATION PROGRAMCERTIFICATION SYSTEM ECOSOCIAL IBD 8th Edition doc 8_1_6 september 2009* Hunting, capture and trade of wild animals.* Undue exploitation of the right to property.* Inexistence of hiring and payment procedures with workers.* Existence of discrimination: social, cultural, political, religious, ethnic, racial, sexual, age.* Child labor.* Forced labor.* Workers exposed to risks without appropriate individual protection.* The use of agrochemicals must happen under the responsibility of a properly trainedprofessional, and following the countrys norms.
Chef Rubber might have a kosher-certified luster dust that is FDA approved. One way to apply is to mix with melted cocoa butter and decorating the insides of the molds.
Francisco -
You might also want to get in touch with ChocolateLife member Vaagn (member name: Marabel Farms). They have a plantation along the north coast.
:: Clay
Venezuela produces about the same amount of cacao as it did three centuries ago: 15,000 tons a year, less than 1 percent of global cacao output. But that amount stirs the passions of critics and devotees, turning a luxury crop destined for foreigners into a contentious, and sometimes violent, political issue. Cacao from here is so desirable that European chocolate makers sometimes engage in cut-throat competition to gain access to it. Chocolatiers talk of the unique factors here on the Caribbeans edge in a way that resembles the got de terroir, or taste of the earth, crucial to fine wines.Venezuela is in a league of its own, said Gary Guittard, a California chocolate maker who buys Venezuelan cacao. It takes years to develop the uniqueness of the best cacao, maybe 20 or 30 years, maybe 100, so other nations need to catch up.Viewed as a treasure abroad, cacao is seen differently by many Venezuelans, from the president to the poor. A loophole for this nature reserve allows cacao haciendas to dot the forest, near villages populated by descendants of African slaves and near poor migrants who live in squatter villages in the park....Despite partnering with the government in a cacao venture in Barinas, Mr. Chvezs home state, Chocolates El Rey, a leading company in Venezuelas gourmet chocolate industry, was powerless to stop squatters who invaded the farm earlier this decade and still occupy it.We could be a world leader with cacao, what beef is for Argentina or rice for Thailand, said Jorge Redmond, Chocolates El Reys chief executive, reflecting on the industrys upheaval. Instead were faced with 52 different permits to export a container of our product, compared with four steps to export when Chvez came to power.
New blend makes antioxidant rich chocolate easier to create, says Wild Chocolate products full of natural antioxidants are growing in popularity as consumers associate antioxidants with healthy living.But to create antioxidant rich products manufacturers normally have to buy special quality cocoa beans, with high levels of antioxidants. Furthermore, processing has to be gentle to ensure that the finished product is still high in antioxidants, said a Wild spokesperson.Natural powder blendWith its new natural powder blend, Wild plans to make it easer for chocolate makers to formulate antioxidant rich chocolate products.The blend itself contains plant extracts from green and white tea as well as green rooibos and grape seeds, which all have high and standardised levels of polyphenols, according to Wild.The powder blend can be added to chocolate bars or pralines, with or without fruit fillings, to boost antioxidant levels and allow manufacturers to use less rarified cocoa beans.In addition, the blend can be added to the chocolate mass after conching so that the polyphenols, or antioxidants, are not destroyed by the processing.The consistency and taste of the chocolate is unaffected by the addition of the powder blend, said the company spokesperson.
Cacao is a New World plant and since the conquest of Mesoamerica and the subsequent appropriation of the cocoa bean by Europeans, New World chocolate makers, chocolatiers, and confectioners have suffered from an inferiority complex regarding the quality of chocolate produced in the lands of origin of theobroma cacao (t. cacao cacao): the food of the Gods.Interested in contributing? Download the Call for Submissions to learn more. Questions? Post them here.
For nearly a decade, a new generation of chocolate makers have shaken the very foundations of the world of craft chocolate production and now the New World is home to companies producing much of the most interesting chocolate in the world.
The Craft Chocolate Movement in the New World is just now approaching the threshold of interest and awareness that the craft brew movement reached some two decades ago. What catapulted the craft brew movement was the availability of information about process, technique, and equipment, as well as access to sources for equipment and ingredients. While much of this information is available to the person interested in craft chocolate making today, it is not as accessible or as well organized as it needs to be. This book is being produced to address that need.
Cadbury is conducting a voluntary recall in Australia for one of its products in the Old Gold Dark Chocolate range due to the possible presence of milk protein, which is not labelled on the packaging.Cadbury said the product, which is currently distributed in Australia and Guam, should not be eaten by people who are allergic or intolerant to milk protein.Apart from this labelling irregularity, Cadbury said there is no other fault with the Old Gold Dark Chocolate 70 per cent cocoa 200g blockThe Old Gold Dark Chocolate 70 per cent cocoa 220g block is not affected by this recall, which is being undertaken as a precaution to protect consumer safety and maintain standards.
