Maltesers

Is Maltesers an ethical brand?

Maltesers is a chocolate manufactured by Mars Inc. Maltesers were first sold in 1936 and were recently rated as the UK’s most popular confectionery in a YouGov poll. Unfortunately, Maltesers does not have a high enough score on The Good Shopping Guide’s Ethical Chocolate Ratings Table to be rated as ethical.

Although Maltesers have not met our ethical benchmark yet, we hope that it will make progress in the future to reach it. If Maltesers were to apply for Ethical Accreditation, The Good Shopping Guide would have the opportunity to provide an assessment and detailed recommendations on how Galaxy could make ethical improvements.

You can find out more about Ethical Chocolate and how other brands score against Malteser in our Ethical Chocolate Ratings Tables.

Where does Maltesers perform well for its ethics?

Maltesers scores well on our Ratings Table by being suitable for Vegetarians. However, Maltesers chocolates are not suitable for vegans and they do contain palm oil which some people choose to avoid due to its links to deforestation. Maltesers have some Fairtrade products and their manufacturer Mars has some of its other products listed on the ‘buying Fairtrade chocolate’ page on the Fairtrade Foundation website.

Another area which Maltesers receives a top score for is its Environmental Report. Mars have a page dedicated to a Healthy Planet where it has details about its targets for plastic usage, water consumption and carbon emissions.

Where does Maltesers perform poorly? 

Maltesers receives a bottom score on The Good Shopping Guide’s table for Genetic-Modification. Maltesers’ manufacturer Mars has stated that it believes that “genetically-modified/engineered ingredients are safe.” However, under our criteria, brands which use Genetically-Modified ingredients receive a bottom score as scientists cannot know if they are truly safe for consumption.

A bottom score is also given to Maltesers for Animal Welfare as Mars continues to fund unethical animal tests despite the fact there are more reliable human tests readily available.

How can Maltesers improve its ethical rating?

Maltesers’ score in The Good Shopping Guide is the result of the calculation of some of our ethical criteria. In order to reach our minimum benchmark and qualify for Ethical Accreditation, Maltesers needs to work on a few issues. This includes improving upon its bottom scores for Genetic Modification and Animal Welfare.

Hopefully, Maltesers will improve upon these bottom ratings so it can see its score rise on the Ethical Chocolate Ratings Table and we could offer it Ethical Accreditation for its chocolate.

Could Ethical Accreditation be right for your chocolate brand? See our Ratings Tables to see which other brands have achieved this ethics and sustainability certification. Get in touch to find out more, or fill out a rapid initial assessment form.