UTZ/Rainforest Alliance merger and new Naturland semi-finished cocoa products

The Rainforest Alliance and UTZ have merged and are introducing a new common standard. Read more to find out what this means for you as a customer. And another new development: in the light of the trend towards stricter organic certification, we are now adding Naturland certified cocoa mass and cocoa butter from the Dominican Republic to our range.

Rainforest Alliance/UTZ – what does the merger mean for you?
The merger of the Rainforest Alliance and UTZ means that all previously certified cocoa products such as cocoa beans, cocoa mass, cocoa nibs, cocoa butter and cocoa powder will now bear the new Rainforest Alliance logo. In the future, our spices will also be endorsed by the Rainforest Alliance. At the start of April 2022, PRONATEC successfully completed its first transition audit, so the switch to the new label will soon be complete. Our current UTZ certificate was valid until the end of February 2022, but it is being automatically extended by 6 months until August 2022 to cover the transition period.

Our semi-finished cocoa products are still UTZ-certified and can also be marketed as Rainforest Alliance products under the "full mutual recognition" rule. Click here to see our current UTZ certificate for cocoa beans, cocoa nibs, cocoa semi-finished products and chocolate. You can find details about the change in the Rainforest Alliance Transition Guidance document.

Naturland cocoa mass, cocoa butter and cocoa powder
The trend for stricter, more far-reaching organic and fair trade certification is continuing. For many years we have offered semi-finished cocoa products with the Bio Suisse certification. Now we are also adding cocoa products with the Naturland certification from the Dominican Republic to our range. Click here for the PRONATEC company profile on the Naturland website (in German).