Traceable from Tree to Lindt's Production Sites

 

(Continued...)

From the harvest of cocoa pods by individual farmers and strict quality controls, right through to the delivery of high-quality cocoa beans to the Lindt Master Chocolatiers in European and US manufacturing plants, full traceability is guaranteed right along the supply chain.

• Harvest
The Ghanaian cocoa harvest season starts at the beginning of October and runs to the end of April. The pods on the lower branches of the cocoa plant ripen first, so these are picked at the start of the harvest season. Other fruits higher up the individual plant ripen later, and are harvested at roughly three-weekly intervals. Farmers are helped by harvest workers during the crop season, as well as by family members. The surrounding community therefore plays an important role in the harvesting of the cocoa crop, highlighting the degree to which farmers are involved in the livelihood of their local communities.

• Fermentation and drying process controlled by farmers
After the pods are picked, they are broken open to retrieve the cocoa beans. The farmer then carries out the fermentation process which is critical for quality and flavour of the cocoa. The process starts by covering the beans with banana leaves, and continues by leaving them in crates for five days, during which time the flavour of the beans develops, the initial bitterness subsides and the beans turn from white to brown. After fermentation, the farmers spread out the beans flat on the ground or on wooden roasts to dry out for seven days.

• Collection at "Society" level and transport to "Districts"
After fermentation and drying, the farmers send their beans to local representatives who form a "Society" which is organized along the lines of a co-operative in the respective villages. At this level of the supply chain i.e. at village or "Society" level, Lindt & Sprüngli's partner, Armajaro, starts identifying and tracking the flow of the beans and pays the purchase price to the farmers according to prescribed price levels, as defined by the state organisation COCOBOD.
Following transportation of the beans from the "Societies" to one of Ghana's 67 regional cocoa "Districts", the beans are inspected, sampled and graded by the State Quality Control Division. The beans are then sealed in bags, ready for transportation to the port.

• Warehouse at port
After arrival at port, the state organisation Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC) takes over the graded and sealed cocoa beans. Lindt & Sprüngli traceable beans are stored in a separate segregated warehouse until shipment. Following the price fixing between CMC and organisations such as Armajaro, the beans are prepared for shipment. The limited involvement of the Ghanaian state concerning cocoa bean collection, quality control and export ensures stable and identical prices for all farmers during a harvest season as well as high product quality.

• Shipment to Europe and USA
Lindt & Sprüngli traceable cocoa beans are then shipped in bags from the Ghanaian warehouses to Amsterdam and Bilbao, taking approx. seven days, and to New York and Boston, which takes around eleven days. In the final stage of their journey, the cocoa beans are transported to Lindt & Sprüngli manufacturing plants in France, Switzerland, and the USA, where they are blended with "flavour beans" of mainly Caribbean and South American origin, undergo Lindt's proprietary pre-treatment process, and are then gently roasted and ground, ready to be turned into delicious Lindt premium chocolate.

 

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