We need to remember that vegan doesn’t always mean cruelty-free, particularly in the case of chocolate. More than 70% of chocolate is made from cocoa that comes from Western Africa, where child labor and in some cases, slavery, is common. You can learn more about this from Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P) and this article from the Washington Post. Fortunately, you can find chocolate products on F.E.P.’s Chocolate List that are recommended because they are not sourced from areas where the worst forms of forms of child labor and/or slavery are the most prevalent.

Here in Portland, Oregon, we are fortunate to have some local businesses that use only (F.E.P.)-approved chocolate:
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Alma Chocolate
Buddha Chocolate
Cloudforest
Creo Chocolate
Doe Donuts
Holy Kakow
Meridian Cacao Co.
Missionary Chocolates
Momo Cocoa
Next Level Burger
Ranger Chocolate
Woodblock Chocolate Manufactory

In some cases, all the products aren’t vegan, so you’ll just need to check.

We are also lucky that Food Fight! Grocery labels the chocolates that are approved by F.E.P.