Tesco Fairtrade Chocolate 15p a bar! Updated - now 7p a bar

competitionscafe

I have not been to Tescos to confirm this, but according to the excellent blog 'Adventures in Ethical Consumerism':

"...Tesco’s wonderful fairtrade chocolate is down to only 15p a bar at the moment. I would love to know why that is. Do they need to get rid of it quick? Are they hoping to get more people to try it? What could possibly be motivating such a massive drop from 59p? Could it just be a simple mistake?..."

http://www.ethicaladventures.org/

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tonyg_2

Seems a contradiction to me. Would imagine it would be impossible to pay a fair price to the producers in the long term if they are only charging 15p. Hope Tesco are absorbing any loss, rather than reducing their payments to the producers...

competitionscafe

Yes, I would hope that is what Tesco are doing (after all they can easily afford it). I would imagine this is either a 'loss leader' to get people into their shops (ethically minded people may be inclined to spend more, for example, buying Fairtrade coffee, bananas etc while they are there) or perhaps it is just a pricing error (in which case stock up while you can!)

As Homer would say mmmmmmmmmmmm chocolate.
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MoneyMonkey

Mmmmmmmm loss leader!!! :rotfl:

pesky2

I saw this tonight as well and was going to get some but didn't may have another look tomorrow

ben500

pesky2 wrote:

I saw this tonight as well and was going to get some but didn't may have another look tomorrow

Don't do it! If you google this it comes up with the online dictionary explanation for the word disgusting!

Don't make the same mistake I did I spotted this in Newton Abbot store and picked up two bars @ 15p and am considering suing Tesco for an assault with an offensive confectionary!
Really I wouldn't force feed this to the mother in law!

brummybloke

that could then be the reason it has come down in price. i may procure a bar and have a sample taste later. if it is as ben says it will confirm my suspicions that most fair trade stuff is pap. i buy something because i like it , not for the political message.

spook

Well personally i've always found fairtrade products to be of a much higher standard than eviltrade products. For example I'd suggest trying Green & Black's chocolate, it's very very nice. And for real chocoholics, you can get Traidcraft chocolate & hazelnut spread that (shock horror) actually tastes of chocolate & hazelnuts! (Best eaten directly from the jar with a spoon ). After trying that there's no going back...

Obviously buying fair trade products doesn't have to be about any kind of political message - as you said, don't buy it if you don't like it. But saying that "most fair trade stuff is pap" is blatantly untrue. For starters, you don't get that nasty aftertaste that comes from knowing that the company you buy from is screwing over some of the world's poorest people.:cool:

Anyway, I'm off to tesco to get some while it's 15p Thanks to competitionscafe for posting this!

Spook

competitionscafe

Fair point. Well I haven't tried the Tesco Fairtrade chocolate yet, but the Green & Blacks bars are good (although they are now owned by Cadburys) and I can highly recommend the co-op fairtrade chocolate. Divine and Dubble bars are good too. As for other Fairtrade products , the Cafe Direct Fairtrade coffee (blue bag) is also one of the nicest coffees I have tried (and I have tried loads) - it also came top in a Which? magazine taste test.

People used to mass produced chocolates may not like the Tesco fairtrade one because a lot of British chocolate contains hydrogenated fat (hardened vegetable oil) which gives a good 'mouth feel' (apparently!); is cheaper and prolongs shelf life - but (trans fats) are also supposed to be unhealthy. However that is what sells by the ton and 'proper' chocolate has only a tiny percentage of the market.

From The Telegraph:
"...Scientists have found that the trans fats in hydrogenated fat raise cholesterol, reduce the nutritional value of breast milk and are linked with low birth weight and heart disease. Other side-effects include reducing the immune response, affecting fertility and raising blood insulin, a factor in the development of diabetes."
http://wine.telegraph.co.uk/wine/main.jhtml?xml=/wine/2005/04/30/edsavvy30.xml

And from the same site:

"the average bar of real milk chocolate should contain cocoa mass, which is a combination of dry cocoa solids (the basis of cocoa powder) and cocoa butter, milk solids, sugars and little else. Plain chocolate contains the same without the milk solids.

But, in reality, and in order to make huge profits, confectionary manufacturers adulterate 90 per cent of chocolate with vegetable oils, some of them highly saturated, and, occasionally, starch....."

If you want to try some really good chocolate try Montezuma's which is both Fairtrade and Organic> http://www.montezumas.co.uk/

spook wrote:

And for real chocoholics, you can get Traidcraft chocolate & hazelnut spread that (shock horror) actually tastes of chocolate & hazelnuts!

Sounds gorgeous, where can I buy it from?
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ben500

I personally wasn't knocking fairtrade products just the gastly muck that Tesco market as fairtrade chocolate, as far as that stuff goes there is nothing fair about trading in it!
By all means buy and try fairtrade produce just not this particular chocolate bar as it is not just disgusting it's downright offensive! My body still shudders thinking about my one and only taste of the stuff.

That having been said the seagulls at the marina in Torquay didn't seem to have any complaints and wolfed the lot down much to the dismay of the locals. They don't like seagulls at Torquay do they! Well I fed them enough bread cakes and bagels to keep them going for months if the chocolate doesn't kill them off first.

tonyrancid

"i buy something because i like it , not for the political message."
I agree I like chocolate that has been produced by child slaves, kidnapped and sold for $30. It just tastes so much sweeter knowing someone else is suffering so I can get fat.

http://www.american.edu/TED/chocolate-slave.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1272522.stm