Chocolate

If you eat chocolate, there's a good chance that some of it came from the Ivory Coast from a crop that was picked by children who are trafficked and enslaved. An estimated 284,000 children are forced to work 12-14 hour days with no pay and little food or sleep, and are often beaten, just so we can have our chocolate fix. The large companies like Nestle claim they are not responsible because they are only buying a product and don't own the farms.

Some major buyers of cocoa, including Cargill, initiated a program in 2007 to improve social and environmental practices in the cocoa industry and put an end to these abuses. In the meantime, one way to guarantee that the chocolate you are eating doesn't come from African slave children is to eat only certified fair trade chocolate. Only 1% of the chocolate produced is fair trade but it is easy to find in Houston at stores like 10,000 Villages, which sells only fair trade items, and Whole Foods Market. Just look for the fair trade certified logo.