Milka

How ethical and sustainable is Milka? 

Milka is a Mondelēz chocolate brand found in The Good Shopping Guide’s Ethical Chocolate Ratings Table. Although Milka does not meet our ethical benchmark at this current time, we would hope to see the brand progress and focus more on developing its ethical practices in the future. A way that this brand could increase confidence would be by submitting itself for Ethical Accreditation, this allows The Good Shopping Guide to conduct a further detailed assessment and give specific recommendations for how this brand could improve ethically.

Find out more about Fairtrade chocolate with The Good Shopping Guide to Ethical Chocolate and compare to other brands in our Ethical Chocolate Ratings Table.

What does Milka do?

Milka became a registered trademark in 1901 by Chocolat Suchard in Germany and can now be found in over 40 countries. Milka is a part of Mondelēz chocolate and offers a large range of chocolates.

For which criteria does Milka perform poorly? 

Milka scores poorly for our research criteria regarding Animal Welfare, Political Donations and GMO usage in products. The parent brand of Milka released a policy outlining its belief in the usage of Genetically-Modified ingredients within products; this policy suggests that there is the usage of these within its products. Find out more about this here.

Mondelēz has donated thousands in past years towards US political parties. Additionally, for those consumers concerned about animal cruelty, while the brand itself does not test on animals, they do not discourage this within its supply chain allowing suppliers to operate however they please and are not actively looking for cruelty-free options.

Past Criticisms of Milka’s ethical record

Many criticisms come from Milka’s parent company, Mondelēz, which received a low rating from the Corporate Information Transparency Index. This Index looks at transparency within companies’ supply chains.

Mondelēz scored F in another assessment by the Rainforest Action Network. F is the lowest score possible, and was given for its efforts (or lack thereof) to address its contribution to forest destruction, land grabs and violence against local indigenous communities.

In what areas does Milka score well for its ethics?

Milka performed well for its detailed environmental report, which was released by its parent company Mondelēz. The brand laid out specific goals to help preserve the environment. Milka is not vegan chocolate but is suitable for vegetarians to enjoy.

How can Milka brand improve its ethical rating?

A brands’ Ethical Score is calculated by The Good Shopping Guide and is based on three main criteria which looks at the Environment, People and Animals.

For Milka to reach the minimum ethical benchmark that we set in order to achieve Ethical Accreditation, it must tackle the issue of Animal Welfare in the supply chains. This could be achieved through transparency about where ingredients are sourced from and the processes used to also tackle the GMO issue.

Why not check out The Good Shopping Guide‘s Ethical Accreditation if you work for or with a chocolate company that places ethics high on its priority list? This certification of sustainability and ethics has benefited chocolate manufacturers including Seed & Bean, Alter Eco, Wunder Workshop, and Raw Living. Contact us to learn more, or complete our short form for an initial assessment.