Skip to main content

Responsible Sourcing & Certified Ingredients

Hershey Trading GmbH leads and delivers The Hershey Company’s commitment to source 100 percent of its cocoa, coconut and palm oil sustainably and with certifications by 2020.

Cocoa

The Hershey Company is committed to sourcing 100 percent certified and sustainable cocoa for all chocolate products around the world by 2020. As of the end of 2018, Hershey achieved 80 percent certified and sustainably sourced cocoa and is on schedule to achieve its commitment of 100 percent by 2020.

Hershey Trading GmbH is critical in delivering this goal and sources the majority of The Hershey Company’s cocoa through three of the world’s most recognized cocoa certifying organizations: UTZ and Rainforest Alliance (merged since 2018) and Fair Trade USA as well as from cocoa suppliers’ independently verified programs.

U.S. consumers can purchase Scharffen Berger and Brookside Chocolate products with 100 percent cocoa from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms and barkTHINS products with Fair Trade USA Certified™ ingredients.

field with blue sky and rainbow

Cocoa

The Hershey Company is committed to ethically sourced coconut that is 100 percent certified, mainly Fair Trade USA, by 2020. As of 2018, Hershey remains on track to reach this goal.

 

Palm Oil

The Hershey Company is committed to responsible and sustainable palm oil sourcing (Responsible Palm Oil Sourcing Policy). The company joined the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2011 and has sourced 100 percent of its palm oil as RSPO-certified since the end of 2014.

Hershey Trading GmbH supplies responsible and sustainable palm oil to The Hershey Company. We also work with the Earthworm Foundation (formerly The Forest Trust) toward tracing Hershey’s palm and palm kernel oil supplies to the mill level. This helps Hershey Trading GmbH better understand if the palm oil sourced for The Hershey Company is linked to areas where there is a social or environmental risk, such as deforestation. Hershey’s palm oil sourcing updates are available on its website: Palm Oil Facts.