[citation needed] According to advocates of fair trade, such as Ghanaian cooperative Kuapa Kokoo,[1][2] "Big Chocolate" companies include Mondelez (which owns Cadbury), Mars, Nestlé, and The Hershey Company.
Together these companies process about 12%[citation needed] of the world's 3 million tons[3] of cocoa each year.
[citation needed] At issue is the ability to replace cocoa butter or dairy components of chocolate with cheaper vegetable fats or polyglycerol polyricinoleate (PGPR), thereby reducing the quantity of actual cocoa in the finished product while creating a less healthy confection.
[4] Currently the United States, some parts of the European Union and Russia do not allow vegetable fats as ingredients of products labeled as chocolate.
[5] There are many ethical issues implicated in the chocolate industry, among them child labor, environmental impact, sustainability, and the extreme poverty of the average cocoa farmer.