One of my favorite food: Dark Chocolate Almods

One of my favorite foods is Dark Chocolate. Since I have learned that dark chocolate is good for health it has become one of my best friends J This week, I’m going to share about my dark chocolate almonds that I buy from the bulk food section at Winco Supermarket. The code of this item is 2223 and it’s known as Sugar-Free Dark Chocolate Almonds.

Sugar Free Dark Chocolate Almonds from Winco Supermarket at the Bulk Food

It’s a multi-ingredient food? and what are the ingredients?

The main ingredients of my food are Dark Chocolate, Roasted Almonds, Iron, Calcium, and  Sugar Alcohol. The nutritional information per a serving size of 40 grams is:

SERVING SIZE 40 GRAMS
CALORIES 200*FROM FAT160
% = DAILY VALUE
TOTAL FAT 18G 28%
SATURATED FAT 8G 40%
TRANS FAT 0G
CHOLESTEROL 0MG 0%
SODIUM 0MG 0%
TOTAL CARBOHYDRATE 17G 6%
DIETARY FIBER 3G 12%
SUGARS 0G 

PROTEIN 3G
SUGAR ALC 12G

CALCIUM 4%
VIT A 0%

VIT C 0%

IRON 4%

I have discovered that my chocolates have sugar alcohols, that is a type of sweetener used in foods labeled "sugar-free." You'll find them in chewing gum, sugar-free candies, cookies, soft drinks, and other foods. Sugar alcohols have about one-half to one-third fewer calories than sugar. For example, if a food label doesn't list sugar as an ingredient, but it has 20 grams of sugar alcohol, that is equal to the calories in about 10 grams of sugar. (http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/sugar-alcohols)

Then, my favorite dark chocolate has 6 grams of sugar L Now, I’ll be aware of buying “Sugar-free products” I didn’t realize about this sugar alcohol ingredient before.

Do they look Delicious? 

Where did my product coming from?  

My dark chocolate almonds are manufactured here at the United States by a big corporation named Van Leer Chocolates Inc. This company also owns the company that distributes them, its name is JN Kidds Food Distributors. It is settled in Weymouth, MA.  Van Leer Co is located in Chicago, Illinois. What I have discovered is that the company Van Leer is a famous chocolate factory around the world. Also, they have a chocolate academy in 15 countries worldwide: United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, England, Switzerland, Spain, Poland, Holland, France, Russia, Belgium, China, India, and Singapore. Moreover, Van Leer is in charge for the Cacao Barry World Chocolate Masters competition every year. http://www.worldchocolatemasters.com/en/)

Cacao beans imported from South and Central America. 

Van Leer is a big company that owns many other related companies (monopoly?)

At the company web page we can read: “With Van Leer, quality has been at the forefront since its beginnings.  L.K. Van Leer came to America from Holland and started the Van Leer Chocolate Corporation on Christmas Day 1949.  Right from the beginning, he made it his goal to be the industry leader- to make the finest chocolates “(http://www.vanleerchocolate.com/us/en/aboutus)

Indeed, I didn’t know that my favorite Dark Chocolate Almonds are coming from a finest companyJ!!!

At JN Kidds Food Distributors, my dark chocolate almond is sell as the info described above:

Product Package Type Case Pack Bel Noir Dark Couverture 54% Bag in case 1 x 30 Lb

How was it? Van Leer Chocolate has no information where they buy the cacao beans to make chocolate. Since United States doesn't produce cacao, it might be importing the product from Mexico, Central & South America, or from Africa. It didn't say at their page. I have contacted them but I didn't get them back.  They promote organic procedures in order to harvest their beans. They also process the cacao beans at Zurich, Switzerland in a bulk form. They ship the cacao bulk form to Chicago by sea cargo. It takes days to get here, because the cargo has to cross the entire North Atlantic Ocean. Regardless, the cacao producers have to ship the grains from their places to Switzerland L OMG!!!

Cacao beans worker at a Bolivian plantation, South America. 

Environmental Impacts of my product: The materials that cover my product are: thermo aluminum bags, which are not environmental friendly. Aluminum contains many harsh chemicals that are by no means biodegradable! L Also, they place it in a box that is distributed to retails stores. They also own the company who manufactures the bags; its name is Van Leer Containers Inc, located at Atlanta, GA.

My dark chocolate almonds are shipped in boxes like this one. 

Also, the product is dispatched from Weymouth, Ma to  Winco Food’s Wherehouse at Boise, Idaho. This is a long drive: the truck will drive from the New York Trwy N to I-80 W, where there are 2675.82 miles, this equal to 41 hours, 8 min based on current traffic hours and weather conditions.

After investigating all this info, from a simple, nice, delicious dark chocolate, I started feeling sad, for too many procedures to be done just to get a pound of my favorite chocolate L

2675.82 miles driving to get my favorite dark chocolate almonds from Boston to California. 

It is healthy to eat my dark chocolate almonds? 

According with Dr. Lawrence Sperling, from the American Heart Association, “chocolate has gotten a bad name. It's blamed for acne…yet studies show its had little effect. It's more likely hormones and heredity is the villains in the pimple factor. Some worry that chocolate, like coffee, is high in caffeine. Yet one ounce of milk chocolate has only 7 milligrams of caffeine, while a regular cup of coffee holds between 95 and 140. And  let’s talk about cavities? While it's true that anything loaded with sugar will create problems if teeth are not properly brushed, the tannins in chocolate may fight the bacteria responsible for tooth decay. But the biggest reason to give your sweetie a heart full of chocolate is that it's good for your heart”  Also, Dr. Sperling conclude: “ Be sure to choose a small piece of dark – not white or milk chocolate—so you can get the heart healthy benefits of: Increasing your blood flow; Improving your HDL, the "good" cholesterol; moreover, Reducing your blood pressure, And increasing antioxidants in your blood. That's because cocoa contains significant amounts of flavonoids.—the same heart healthy antioxidants found in red wine, green tea, and various veggies and fruits”. (http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides)

Dark chocolate is high in flavonoids and high fiber content

Conclusion: I would say that I didn’t realize the process to get a single product would cost too much, I mean, how many ways has my favorite dark chocolate almonds to travel in order to get here, at Winco Norco, CA.  Also, how many processes are related to produce it? I have summarized the process to get my product as:

• 1.       harvesting the cacao beans from somewhere (Mexico, Central America, South America, or Asia)
• 2.       Ship the beans to Zurich
• 3.       Process  the cacao beans into a bulk cacao form at Zurich, Switzerland
• 4.       Then, to ship it to Chicago, Illinois where is formally processed  using local almonds
• 5.       After that, my dark chocolate almonds have to be packet it and shipped to Winco Foods wherehouse at Idaho.
• 6.       Finally, it is shipped by trailers to California

In my personal opinion, this is a complicated process, just to get simple dark chocolate almonds. Since I couldn't find info about the cacao beans producers, I can imagine this people working for less than a minimum wage (in their countries). What about if there are kids or women working for less than a man can earn? I would think seriously to buy it again. If I don’t get back from Van Leer Corporation regarding my questions of where they get the cacao beans I wouldn’t buy it again. I will be posting my comments in a near future regarding this. By now, I just say that I will be sharing these dark chocolate almonds tomorrow at our class potluck J

Cacao beans workers at Kenya. 

Today, Sunday 25 of May, the company Van Leer hasn't get back on my yet, regarding my questions from where they get the cacao beans....I'll be waiting for getting some news from them. Otherwise, I will keep my investigation till I can find at least some clues to my question.