Mars Chocolates Linked to Child Labor in Ghana

Despite pledges to eradicate child labor, investigation finds children as young as five still working in cocoa fields supplying Mars, Inc..

Mars, Inc., the maker of popular chocolates like M&M’s and Snickers, has been found to use cocoa harvested by children as young as five years old in Ghana, according to an investigation by CBS News.
Despite Mars' pledge to eradicate child labor from its supply chain by 2025, the investigation found that some of the children listed as being rescued from cocoa plantations and put back in school are still working in the fields.
A cocoa field supervisor for Mars, who had previously been involved in making the lists of rescued children, anonymously told CBS that almost every data used to write up the lists is inaccurate or fabricated.
One of the children on the list, 15-year-old Munira, has worked in the cocoa fields for two-thirds of her life and despite being visited by field supervisors and given school supplies, no one had checked on whether she actually went to school.
Mars issued a statement condemning the use of child labor and stating that they are fully committed to helping to eradicate it, and are now urgently investigating the claims made in the CBS broadcast.