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Cacao Trace® is the symbol of Puratos’ sustainable cocoa field programme and stakeholder certification. It requires annual audits to be undertaken by an independent third-party organisation. It also demands continuous improvement. The programme is currently active in Ivory Coast and Vietnam, and we have plans to expand our Cacao Trace® sourcing to more countries in South-East Asia, West Africa and Latin America.
Cacao Trace® is a cocoa programme that encompasses all the standard elements of sustainable certification. It is also the ONLY one to include taste and quality within a sustainable programme (through fermentation mastering) and the ONLY one to feature an innovative remuneration scheme, which rebalances profit sharing in the supply chain (through the ‘chocolate bonus’).
The holistic approach of Cacao Trace® ensures that our five winning aspirations not only drive change but have a real positive impact for the cocoa farmers:
An economically viable cocoa supply chain: being in direct contact with cocoa farmers enables us to provide them with the skills they need to better manage their plantations, increase their yields and make sure that cocoa farming is a viable long-term activity for them. In this way, Puratos secures and better manages the supply chains of its cocoa ingredients to different factories across the world.
Environmental protection and fighting global warming are also key to safeguarding long-term cocoa production. We support farmers in implementing best practices and ‘agroforestry’ projects, which involve creating combined plantations of cocoa + wood + fruit trees that work in synergy together. These are also complementary ways to boost farm productivity and consequently the farmers’ income and health. The increased soil, flora and fauna biodiversity on the plantations increases their resilience to extreme weather conditions (such as drought and flooding). It also results in better, cleaner cocoa harvests.
Combining sustainability, superior taste and consistent quality is important to us, our customers and consumers. That is why we have invested in exclusive post-harvest centres where we collect, ferment and dry the cocoa beans ourselves. This unique approach has enabled us to master the fermentation process, a crucial step in ensuring high-quality cocoa that consistently meets our stringent quality standards. In return, farmers are rewarded with a better price for their better cocoa. They receive quality premiums linked to the quality of the cocoa they supply – a real incentive for continuous quality improvement.
Finally, we know that supporting farmers is also about helping them and their families to have a sustainable living. We believe the chocolate bonus can rebalance the power relationship in the supply chains. Consumers and customers will be able to contribute towards lifting farmers and their communities out of poverty thanks to a fixed contribution that is part of the price of Cacao Trace® products. With full transparency, 100% of this consumer contribution is received by the farmers. In turn, it helps create communities that farmers and their children would want to live in, all while encouraging the next generation of cocoa farmers.
We also believe that children should never be harmed or exploited in cocoa farming, and that cocoa farming can – and must – play a positive role in farming communities. We plan to focus our action on child education and protection, at the same time as reducing the number of children exposed to unsafe activities.
Cacao-Trace, our sustainable cocoa program, aims to create value for everyone - from producer to consumer - through improved taste.
Our chocolate is obtained from the highest quality beans, fermented and dried according to strict rules. In our post-harvest centres very close to the cocoa plantations, our specialists monitor the fermentation process and improve it. This ensures both uniformly excellent taste for chocolate lovers and better income for growers in the five countries where the program is currently present: Ivory Coast, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Vietnam.
The assets of Cacao Trace®
Our program has all the classic elements of sustainable certification. But, Cacao Trace® goes even further with two points of differentiation:
1. The Chocolate Bonus
For each Cacao Trace® product purchased, the Puratos group pays 0.10 € / kilo directly to cocoa producers to support them in the process of good and sustainable cocoa. In 2018, we collected a bonus of nearly € 280,000 to our partner producers.
2. Control of fermentation
Tasty chocolate can only come from well-fermented cocoa beansJust as a great wine depends on how its grapes are fermented, the more mastered the fermentation process of the cocoa beans, the better the chocolate will taste.
This is why we integrate fermentation into our Cacao Trace® program. We have set up post-harvest centres near our cocoa producers. There our experts control and improve the fermentation process and check the quality of the cocoa. It is thanks to these actions that our chocolate has a regular and exceptional taste.
Great Taste, Doing Good
Our Cacao Trace® Sustainable Cocoa program helps build a truly sustainable future for chocolate and cocoa-based products and everyone involved. At Cacao Trace®, we master the fermentation process to ensure our chocolate and cocoa-based products have a GREAT TASTE. DOING GOOD is our focus so Cacao Trace® farmers benefit from the value they create.
Our chocolate is obtained from the highest quality beans, fermented, and dried according to the highest standards. In our post-harvest centres close to cocoa farmers, expert fermenters monitor and improve the fermentation process. This ensures a consistent superior taste for chocolate lovers and more income for farmers.
Through our Quality Premium and Chocolate Bonus, we ensure our Cacao Trace® farmers enjoy better revenue, with an additional 2 to 5 months of income. Education is at the heart of our commitment. We support farmers' families by building schools and creating the right educational environment. We also prioritise better health conditions with the construction of maternities and installations to ensure access to drinkable water.
Puratos in brief
Puratos is an international group, which offers a full range of innovative products and application expertise for artisans, industry, retailers, and food service customers in the bakery, patisserie, and chocolate sectors. Our headquarters are located on the outskirts of Brussels, Belgium, where the company was founded in 1919.
Why have a sustainable cocoa sourcing program?
As a global manufacturer of real chocolate, as well as compound chocolate and fillings, cocoa ingredients are strategic raw materials for our factories all over the world. For over three decades, we've perfected delicious chocolates and cocoa-based products with brands, Belcolade, Carat, and Chocolanté.
In the last twenty years, concerns of farmer poverty, profit imbalances, deforestation, child labor, poor working conditions, and gender inequality have tainted the chocolate industry. To ensure chocolate remains a joy, addressing these issues is crucial.
That's why we created Cacao Trace®, our Sustainable Cocoa Program. Cacao Trace® is raising the bar for chocolate, by focusing on great taste. This begins with our local post-harvest centers, where experts are setting new standards for the fermentation process. The great taste of our chocolate made possible by Cacao Trace®, benefits all of us. In particular, the cocoa farmers, who receive an extra Chocolate Bonus for every kilo of chocolate sold. The proof of the program is in the taste, and in the improved quality of life for our cocoa farmers. Cacao Trace® is powered by passionate communities in five cocoa regions, by Puratos, and by thousands of chocolate lovers worldwide. We are all united by the belief that creating better chocolate together is the only way to sustainability. Great Taste, Doing good.
