Dispatches investigate Cadbury ahead of Easter with ‘child labour’ accusations

The company was once of the best-known brands from Birmingham…

With Easter just around the corner, Dispatches reporter Antony Barnett goes undercover in Ghana to investigate the truth about Britain’s best-loved chocolate brand, Cadbury.

Dispatches reveals for the first-time child labour in the Cadbury supply chain.

Children, some as young as ten, are filmed carrying heavy loads and working with machetes, carrying out hazardous work on plantations that supply cocoa beans to Mondelez International, the American owner of Cadbury, through its ethical programme Cocoa Life.

Barnett hears from Cocoa Life farmers who earn less than £2 a day and children who have been injured harvesting its beans while working long hours in the searing heat. This investigation will raise uncomfortable questions for Cadbury, which promotes the ethical source of its beans by stamping its Cocoa Life logo on nearly all of its chocolate – including the millions of Creme Eggs we’ll consume this Easter.

Dispatches: Cadbury Exposed, Monday, Channel 4, 8 pm