Sep 01, 2015 06:10 PM EDT
KitKat Recipe: Nestle Announces Japan’s Favorite Chocolate Will Only Use Ethically Responsible Cocoa, No Child Labor Involved

In the first move towards a more ethically aware chocolate industry in what has been considered a major cocoa crisis on Earth, the KitKat recipe is now officially changing its cocoa supplies, promising to phase out chocolate coming from child labor by 2016.

In a surprising and random move, Nestlé, the company that has owned KitKat for years, has announced that KitKat's recipe will now contain ethically aware chocolate, as sustainability becomes a major focus for the company that also makes other cocoa-based products such as Nesquik.

According to Quartz, the move to shift KitKat's recipe into a more socially conscious one apparently stems from recent legal troubles, after a class action lawsuit was directed at the Switzerland-based company for reportedly using fish from a slave laborer in Thailand for its cat food Fancy Feast, something they're currently being accused of knowing beforehand.

In the United States, it's not Nestlé preparing the KitKat recipe but rather by The Hershey Company, which makes and distributes it under license; the new change also applies to the U.S. ones.

The change in the KitKat recipe was announced through a statement on Nestlé's website, as they said the move would be happening from the first quarter of 2016, when only slave labor-free cocoa will be used for the product.

"Sustainable cocoa sourcing helps safeguard the livelihoods of farming communities and delivers higher quality cocoa beans," said Sandra Martinez, Nestlé's Head of Confectionery. "This announcement will only strengthen consumer trust in KitKat as a responsible brand."

Bloomberg reports that the Swiss company has been plagued with accusations of using slave labor to make their products, as they've been often accused of buying their cocoa from farms with rampant child labor, including different Nestlé supplies at the Ivory Coast in Africa, and the company, the largest food one in the world, has agreed non-profit Fair Labor Association to asses the matter from their end.

The change in the KitKat recipe is part of Nestlé's bigger plan towards ethical products called Nestlé Cocoa Plan.

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