Cargill Receives First North American Shipment of UTZ CERTIFIED Chocolate Liquor

LITITZ, Pa., May 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The commitment of Cargill's cocoa and chocolate business on the journey toward a sustainable cocoa supply chain has reached another milestone with the delivery of the first UTZ CERTIFIED/Good Inside chocolate liquor to North America.

The cocoa comes from farmers in Cote d'Ivoire that have participated in Cargill's Farmer Field School programs and reached UTZ certification after independent auditing. During the 10-month Farmer Field School training program, these farmers are trained in safety and good agricultural practices, focusing on farming techniques and post-harvest activities such as pruning, plantation renewal and cocoa fermentation methods. Cargill's farmer training program has resulted in farmers benefitting from a 30-percent increase on average in their incomes from higher yields, as well as from an improvement in the quality of their crop. In addition, the program also stresses broader social aspects, such as the importance of ensuring childhood education and HIV awareness.

The UTZ CERTIFIED/Good Inside cocoa program ― co-founded by Cargill, Dutch development organization Solidaridad and a multi-stakeholder group from the cocoa sector ― introduced independent certification to improve agricultural, environmental and social practices in cocoa production in 2007. The support for small-scale farmers improves farming practices, thereby producing a higher quality crop with increased productivity.

"We believe training farmers to increase yields, improve quality and adopt more sustainable practices can directly contribute to increased earnings for cocoa farmers," said Don Pearson, president of Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate North America. "While increases for each farmer may vary depending on the market price, quality and yields, farmers who adopt better farming practices are benefitting from higher incomes, as well as improving their long-term success."

Cargill's cocoa and chocolate business has long been committed to developing a sustainable cocoa supply chain and took a vital step toward a solution when it became a founding partner of the UTZ CERTIFIED/Good Inside cocoa program. Offering sustainably-sourced UTZ CERTIFIED/Good Inside cocoa and chocolate products provides a better future for cocoa farmers and enables customers to join in the journey toward sustainability, resulting in excellent products that consumers can enjoy and feel good about.

About UTZ CERTIFIED

UTZ CERTIFIED/Good Inside is a market-oriented sustainability program for cocoa, tea and the world's largest supplier of sustainable coffee. As architects of sustainable supply chains, UTZ CERTIFIED ensures a balanced standard regarding People, Planet and Profit. Unique to the UTZ CERTIFIED program is the focus on entrepreneurship of the farmer through cost efficient environmentally and socially responsible farming practices. Goals of the UTZ CERTIFIED program include; increased farmers' professionalism whereby sustainable agricultural supply chains are achieved; the food industry taking responsibility by demanding and sourcing sustainably grown products; and consumers trusting favorite brands confident they were produced to meet social and environmental responsibility standards. For more information, visit www.goodinside.org.

About Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate:

Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate offers the food industry a wide range of both standard and customized cocoa and chocolate ingredients to be used in delicious bakery, confectionery, and dairy applications all over the world. Our product range includes high quality Gerkens® cocoa powders, chocolate including Wilbur®, Peter's® and Veliche®, coatings, fillings, cocoa liquors and cocoa butters. With years of experience in technical food expertise Cargill supports its customers in new recipes and new product development.

Our facilities in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cote d'Ivoire, France, Germany, Ghana, the Netherlands, UK and the USA are fully dedicated to produce in accordance with the highest food safety standards.

To secure a good quality and sustainable supply of cocoa beans we have our own cocoa bean sourcing operations for buying, handling and/or exporting of cocoa beans in Brazil, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Indonesia and Vietnam. Presence in all the leading producing countries allows Cargill to oversee the supply chain from beans at origin to cocoa and chocolate products on our customers' doorstep. In addition, extensive market research and analysis proves to be a source of valuable information to our customers.

For more information, visit: for EMEA http://www.cargillcocoachocolate.com/ and for North America http://www.cargill.com/food/cocoachocolate

About Cargill

Cargill is an international producer and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial products and services.  Founded in 1865, the privately held company employs 131,000 people in 66 countries.  Cargill helps customers succeed through collaboration and innovation, and is committed to applying its global knowledge and experience to help meet economic, environmental and social challenges wherever it does business.  For more information, visit www.cargill.com.

SOURCE Cargill