I love chocolate, but specifically, I'm a dark chocolate kind of person. Dark chocolate salted caramel is the absolute BEST. There's a lot of delicious chocolate out there, though, but some of them just don't measure up to the rest.

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The Best Chocolate for 2024

Before getting to what's being called the worst chocolate brand in the US, let's talk about some of the best chocolate! These are according to Business Insider and they separated them into different groups.

They say that the best chocolate brand for gift-giving is Vosges Haut-Chocolat. I thought for sure they'd be based out of Europe but no, they're actually based not too far away in Chicago!

Business Insider also says the brand with the best chocolate bars is Compartés, which is based out of LA.

And they say that the best chocolate on a budget is Chocolove, based out of Colorado.

The Worst Chocolate Brand in the US

Now let's get to the brand that is being called the worst chocolate brand in the US. This is according to a story by 24/7 Wall Street where they list 8 chocolate brands that you should avoid.

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The reason they say you should avoid them isn't solely about the flavor and quality though. They also mention that these chocolate brands have a history of "exploitative practices, unethical businesses, and slave labor."

The chocolate brand that they put at the top of their list as the top one you should avoid is a brand that's found all over Minnesota and will likely be seen in every bowl of candy this Halloween. It's the Mars brand.

Yep, the brand behind candies like 3 Musketeers, Mars, Milky Way, M&Ms, Snickers, and Twix.

Mars Bars And Snickers Withdrawn From Sale In NSW After Contamination Threat
Photo Illustration by John Pryke/Getty Images
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24/7 Wall Street had a lot to say about Mars and their business model, including:

"While the company has made promises to change the way it produces chocolate, those promises remain unfulfilled."

They also wrote:

"Mars has faced criticism for decades about buying cocoa beans from farms in West Africa that use unpaid and underpaid child laborers."

Also, they wrote that in 2023 there was an investigation done by CBS that found that "children as young as five years old were working in the Mars supply chain in Ghana in dangerous and deadly conditions."

In the same year, 24/7 Wall Street writes that Mars was listed as "an international sponsor of the war in Ukraine by continuing to do business and pay taxes in Russia."

So it appears to me that 24/7 Wall Street's biggest reason for naming them the biggest chocolate brand to avoid is because of their poor choices in business practices.

LOOK: 15 formerly popular foods in America that are rarely eaten today

Stacker researched the history of popular foods, from Jell-O salads to Salisbury steak, and highlighted 15 that are no longer widely consumed.

Gallery Credit: Stacker

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