You might not know it from its generally low price tag, but chocolate has a host of production issues, from child labor on cacao farms to issues with deforestation. Chocolate isn't alone in this either: Many of our everyday foods, like coffee, bananas and more, are tropical products with invisible supply chains. A number of labels, especially those that invoke "fair trade," market themselves as a more ethical option, but they usually come at a price premium. So how can you tell if paying extra is worth it? How do fair trade products differ from their conventional counterparts? And does paying more for these products actually guarantee anything meaningful for the people who produced them?
