Description
Presenter: James A. Saunders, PhD, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
The United States Department of Agriculture has initiated a multidisciplinary program at three separate locations aimed at addressing critical issues relating to the sustainable production of chocolate from Theobroma cacao. In the year 2000, chocolate sales in the United States reached $3.4 billion, with total worldwide production of cacao beans at 2,949,009 metric tons, led by Cote d’ Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia. In the Western Hemisphere, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia are the largest producers.
