### **Timing and Links to Watch & Comment** 🗓️ This stream begins at 10:00 ****MST**** (10:00 P****D**** T, 11:00 M****D**** T, 12:00 C****D**** T, 1:00 pm E****D**** T) on Tuesday, October 6th, 2026. Links below to watch LIVE and to view the archived episode. This ****YOUTUBE**** link is shareable. Watch and comment LIVE or view the archived episode! Subscribe (free!) to the @PodSaveChocolate YouTube channel, like this video, comment, and ****share**** this episode to help grow the #PSC community. Participate/Watch on YouTube This ****LINKEDIN**** link is shareable. Watch and comment LIVE or view the archived episode on LinkedIn. Join my network on LinkedIn to receive notifications and to refer business to each other. Participate/Watch on LinkedIn This ****FACEBOOK**** link is shareable Watch and comment LIVE or view the archived episode on ****TheChocolateLife page**** on Facebook (for 30 days, then watch the archive on YouTube). Follow TheChocolateLife on Facebook to receive notifications and catch up on other content. Participate/Watch on Facebook * * * ## **Episode 236** A couple of weeks ago, someone in Instagram contacted me about a new ceremonial cacao initiative: Certified Ceremonial Cacao. Certified Ceremonial Cacao® HomeCertified Ceremonial Cacao® is the world’s first legally registered certification to protect the sale of cacao that’s grown and prepared in places of pre-Columbian cacao history.CERTIFIED CEREMONIAL CACAO Regular viewers of PodSaveChocolate will know of some of my recent coverage of ceremonial cacao, specifically debunking Maïa and Naturalistico. UPDATED: Is Maïa Ceremonial Cacao a Scam? | #PSC 179Episode 179 of PodSaveChocolate examines the health claims made about and for Maïa’s “#Ceremonial Cacao.” Are they believable? Should you trust them? Why – or why not? [Updated to add FREE downloadable PDF eBook.]The Chocolate LifeClay Gordon Maïa Certification: The Newest Ceremonial Cacao Scam | #PSC 225OVERVIEW: At the request of a friend of TheChocolateLife, Episode 225 of #PodSaveChocolate takes a look at a Certified Ceremonial Cacao Guide course offered by the US company, Naturalistico. Is it on the up and up? What is being certified … and what are the benefits of certification?The Chocolate LifeClay Gordon Naturalistico > This episode will **_not_** be a debunking. Rather, it’s a conidered examination for what the certifications claims are – and what is **_not_** being claimed. > The TL;DR: This effort appears to be an earnest, honest effort to provide clarity to a segment of the market that is clouded by conflicting claims and, unfortunately, populated by some (to me) less-than-honest actors. In this episode I will discuss: * What is a “certification” trademark and how do they differ from regular trademarks? * **Who** is behind the certification * **What** they are trying to do * **Who** it applies to (who can be certified, and where) * **How much** certification will cost, and * **How and why** it’s important to read closely To prepare for this episode I read the Certified Ceremonial Cacao website carefully (several times over a week) comparing what is on the home page with what is on the FAQ, Certified Products, and Blog pages. I also examined relevant USPTO and IRS documents. Finally, I reached out to the founder with a set of questions I had after that research. > The answers to my questions demonstrated an openness and willingness to engage, as well as exposing the care and thought given to the issues at hand. That does not mean I don’t have more questions – but I don’t sell ceremonial cacao products. So, I will raise some questions that I think need more complete answers that – if you’re interested in this certification – you will want answers to before you apply. * * * ### **Future Episodes** 🗓️ I am traveling from Oct 7 -14, so there will be no episode of PodSaveChocolate on October 9th and 13th. 🗓️ No future episodes were scheduled at the time of publication. * * * ### **Episode Hashtags** #cocoa #cacao #cacau #chocolate #chocolat #PodSaveChoc #PSC #LaVidaCocoa #TheChocolateLife * * * ### **#PodSaveChocolate and #TheChocolateLifeLIVE Archives** **To read an archived post** and find the links to watch archived episodes, click on one of the bookmark cards below. Pod Save Chocolate Calendar and ArchiveNews, views, and conversations on topics in cocoa and chocolate streamed live to YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook. #PodSaveChocolate!The Chocolate LifeClay Gordon Episodes 201-300 (links to older PSC archives are in the top nav). #TheChocolateLifeLIVE ArchiveNews, views, and conversations on topics in cocoa and chocolate streamed live to YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook.The Chocolate LifeClay Gordon ⁉️ After a year-long+ experiment, the audio-only versions of PodSaveChocolate episodes have been taken down after an end-of-year review. There were not enough listens to continue uploading episodes and paying for hosting. ## Not a Member? Live The Chocolate Life – Live La Vida Cocoa! Sign up for ****Free**** to comment and receive members-only content. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Premium subscriptions available. * * *

YouTube video by Author D. Gaster

### **Timing and Links to Watch & Comment** 🗓️ This stream begins at 10:00 ****MST**** (10:00 P****D**** T, 11:00 M****D**** T, 12:00 C****D**** T, 1:00 pm E****D**** T) on Friday, October 2nd, 2026. Links below to watch LIVE and to view the archived episode. This ****YOUTUBE**** link is shareable. Watch and comment LIVE or view the archived episode! Subscribe (free!) to the @PodSaveChocolate YouTube channel, like this video, comment, and ****share**** this episode to help grow the #PSC community. Participate/Watch on YouTube This ****LINKEDIN**** link is shareable. Watch and comment LIVE or view the archived episode on LinkedIn. Join my network on LinkedIn to receive notifications and to refer business to each other. Participate/Watch on LinkedIn This ****FACEBOOK**** link is shareable Watch and comment LIVE or view the archived episode on ****TheChocolateLife page**** on Facebook (for 30 days, then watch the archive on YouTube). Follow TheChocolateLife on Facebook to receive notifications and catch up on other content. Participate/Watch on Facebook ## **Episode 235 Overview** This episode of #PodSaveChocolate takes a _critical_ look at a MrBeast video with over 85 million views in 12 days. (Note: MrBeast’s YT channel has 513 million subscribers.) The title of the video is **_I Built A City To Save Kids from Illegal Labor_**. Key elements of that statement will be evaluated and placed within the much larger context of what the scale of the problem Jimmy is attempting to solve. The TL;DR: Hot Take: > What MrBeast’s enterprise built is a school with teacher housing, not a city – not even a village – and _nothing_ like what the video thumbnail implies. > > The model for rescuing 1.5 million children from illegal child labor (MrBeast Announces Feastables Strategy to Eradicate Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry in West Africa) is not scalable. > > The real work is price, monitoring (CLMRS), and meals, co-funded and operated by uncredited partners … **and made possible by the Big Chocolate supply chain it attacks.** * * * ## **Before I Begin** A ChocolateLife Premium member I corresponded with (before I committed to doing this episode) asked why I was so skeptical about Mr Beast’s efforts in this area; shouldn’t I cut Jimmy some slack for raising awareness of the issue of illegal child labor in cocoa in W Africa? That’s a fair question. Some thoughts. 1. **Timing.** The video was published on September 19th, the 25th Anniversary of the signing of the Harkin-Engel Protocol. I don’t see this as a coincidence. 2. **Barry Callebaut** is likely the (undisclosed) company that transforms the Tony’s Open Chain beans into chocolate. BC is one of the original signatories to Harkin-Engel. 3. The **International Cocoa Initiative** (“ICI”), a Feastables partner, was created by industry in response to Harkin-Engel to eradicate “the worst forms of child labor” in cocoa by 2005. The ICI originated the CLMRS that Feastables points to. 4. **Fairtrade International** is a part of the “certification industrial complex” that relies on the problem’s continued existence to maintain relevance and justify its own existence. 5. Tony’s Open Chain is anything _but_ open. Feastables is inseparable from Tony’s and relies on their goodwill as the basis for their own. > The actors above have all been complicit in the industry’s failure to fix the child labor problems they committed to (in one way or another) and/or were founded to fix. > > Yet, here they are, anchoring the claims made for why Mr Beast should be trusted to fix the problem. However – * **The model fails** immediately under even moderately close examination (which Jimmy knows his followers will **_not_** do). As promoted, the scheme **_cannot_** scale and it does not address fundamental issues, such as climate-change driven by deforestation, and it does not account for the replacement cost of labor. * **Feastables** stands to gain much, _much_ more than cocoa farmers in W Africa do. * * * ## **Themes I Examined** ### **What _is_ actually being built?** What is being built is **_not_** a city, or even a village. It’s a school campus with teacher housing and shared services, built on a field next to an existing community in Ghana. What | Detail | Who it serves ---|---|--- School | 10 classrooms, fans, electricity, desks, library; "over 300" students (325 in the old building) | Children Houses | 10, furnished, rooftop solar, given "100% free" (legal title unclear) | Teachers relocated to the site Water | Solar-pumped wells, two tower tanks, piped to homes | Village Power | Off-grid solar, solar streetlights | Village Drainage | Two 4 ft culverts replacing a 3 ft pipe at the river crossing | Access between the two halves of the community Food | Farm, irrigation, fish tanks (aquaponics), chicken coop (~120 eggs/day) | Community Community center | Library, medical center | Community Market, toilets, football field, playground | — | Community ### **Other themes:** 1. **Who is footing the bill?** 2. **What are the long-term maintenance and support commitment?** 3. **Who is currently manufacturing Feastables chocolate?** _This is unclear, but needs to be – the entire supply chain should be made public._ As a Tony’s Open Chain partner it is possible that the chocolate is being manufactured by Barry Callebaut at its factory in Wieze, Belgium and shipped to processing partners in the US and EU that deposit and wrap the bars. Previously, Feastables sourced their cocoa in Peru and the manufacturer was Machu Picchu Foods (Lima). 4. **How does this scale (can it scale?) from 300 to 1.5 million children?** 5. **What the video _doesn’t_ say** 6. **Press credulity** ### **Following the money** 1. The biggest winner (of the video) is the Feastables brand. A ~$10M project became a video that got 81M+ views in its first eleven days and ends with “go get a Feastables bar” to support this cause. 2. Next come the institutions that bought reach to MrBeast’s audience. 3. The cocoa farmers the story is about get the least **_new_** money. * **Beneficiary:** MrBeast / Beast Industries / Feastables * **ROI:** High, indirect. A long-form brand film for Mr Beast’s most profitable unit ($250M sales and $20M+ profit in 2024, while the media division lost ~$80M). Plus undisclosed ad revenue and sponsor fees (e.g., NeuroGum). * **Goodwill:** “My most impactful video ever” * **Other benefits:** Casts Feastables as an (the?) ethical alternative to “Big Chocolate”; answers past supply-chain criticism; supports a ~$5B valuation. **How the loop works:** 1. Fans buy Feastables. (Chocolate _is_ the profitable business.) 2. Profits and partner money fund a spectacle video. The ~$10M headline is 2.5–3× what a typical main-channel video costs ($3–4M), a _nd this amount also appears to include the cost of construction._ 3. The video earns ads and a sponsor fee, and closes by telling viewers to buy Feastables. 4. Partners buy credit and reach. The brand buys an ethical story it can’t get from paid ads. 5. The farmers’ gain depends on tonnes bought, not views. That link is one the video doesn’t talk about. **Some questions for Jimmy:** 1. Who contacted whom, first? Did MrBeast contact Tony’s Open Chain or did Tony’s contact MrBeast – and when? And how long before serious discussions began? 2. Who actually transforms the beans into chocolate? Where? 3. Did the video’s ad revenue go to Beast Philanthropy or to Beast Industries? (Could affect tax reporting.) 4. Was the $10M booked as charity, marketing, or content production? 5. What did NeuroGum pay for the ad placement? ### **More Painful Financial Facts** To be disclosed during the episode – and updated here, after. * * * ### **Related Episodes** Harkin-Engel at 25 | #PSC 232OVERVIEW: Episode 232 of #PodSaveChocolate explores twenty-five years of progress (lack thereof?) in eradicating illegal labor – including slavery – from cocoa. What’s standing in the way? [updated]The Chocolate LifeClay GordonExamining Tony’s Open Chain: Is This a Good Use of AI? | #PodSaveChocolate Ep 126Episode 126 of #PodSaveChocolate features an exploration of using Gemini to summarize Tony’s Open Chain Report for the 2023-2024 reporting year. Is this a good use of AI? What can we learn from Gemini’s analysis? What are the limits? Is anything missing? Can Gemini be trusted? [updated]The Chocolate LifeClay GordonExploring Tony’s “Open” Chain | #PodSaveChocolate Ep 124Episode 124 of #PodSaveChocolate is an exploration of Tony’s Open Chain, searching for answers to, among other questions, “How ‘Open’ is Open?”The Chocolate LifeClay GordonThe 2025 Chocolate Scorecard & Tony’s “Fair” Report | #PodSaveChocolate Ep 114Episode 114 of #PodSaveChocolate features a discussion of two recurring topics: The Chocolate Scorecard (released just in time for Easter), and the most recent “Fair” Report from Tony’s Chocolonely. [ Updated ]The Chocolate LifeClay GordonTheChocolateLifeLIVE | Proposed: IS Tony’s Chocolonely a Force for Good in the World?Episode 121 of #TheChocolateLifeLIVE is LIVE from 10:00 AM PDT / 1:00 PM EDT on Fri, July 7th.The Chocolate LifeTheChocolateWireTheChocolateLife::LIVE – Does Ben+Jerry+Tony = Greenwashing?OR: The Good, The Bad, & The Greenwashing! Episode 56 streams live on Friday, Sep 2nd from 12:00 EDT and is a continuation of the discussions about what chocolate is…The Chocolate LifeTheChocolateWireTaking a(nother Small) Bite Out of Tony’sTilting at Windmills? Part 2 in a multi-part series examining the fallout from Tony’s Sweet Solutions campaign.The Chocolate LifeClay GordonFour Bars Too Far?Their new campaign has many people asking ... WTF were they thinking?The Chocolate LifeClay Gordon * * * ### **Future Episodes** 🗓️ Tuesday, October 6 ****Hot Take:**** The new “Certified Ceremonial Cacao” certification. * * * ### **Episode Hashtags** #MrBeast #Feastables #cocoa #cacao #cacau #chocolate #chocolat #PodSaveChoc #PSC #LaVidaCocoa #TheChocolateLife * * * ### **#PodSaveChocolate and #TheChocolateLifeLIVE Archives** **To read an archived post** and find the links to watch archived episodes, click on one of the bookmark cards below. Pod Save Chocolate Calendar and ArchiveNews, views, and conversations on topics in cocoa and chocolate streamed live to YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook. #PodSaveChocolate!The Chocolate LifeClay Gordon Episodes 201-300 (links to older PSC archives are in the top nav). #TheChocolateLifeLIVE ArchiveNews, views, and conversations on topics in cocoa and chocolate streamed live to YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook.The Chocolate LifeClay Gordon ⁉️ After a year-long+ experiment, the audio-only versions of PodSaveChocolate episodes have been taken down after an end-of-year review. There were not enough listens to continue uploading episodes and paying for hosting. ## Not a Member? Live The Chocolate Life – Live La Vida Cocoa! Sign up for ****Free**** to comment and receive members-only content. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Premium subscriptions available. * * *

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Join us on Nov 13 2026 - Nov 14 2026 (MST) at 8901 Harlan Street, Westminster, CO, 80031. Register, compete in brackets, check schedules, and track live results.

3Dプリンターをカーオーディオに活用する方法を紹介する本企画。前回の「基礎編」に続く後編では、東京都のMST（モービルサウンドテクノロジー）の施工例から実践的な活用法を紹介する。

Candidatas a uma vaga na Câmara, a liderança indígena e ativista e a professora do Movimento Sem Terra conversam com Eliane Brum

近年さまざまなパーツ製作に使われている3Dプリンター。カーオーディオでも活用が進み、東京都のMSTでは高精度なワンオフパーツ製作に導入している。その現場を取材した。

Alô, Brasília! Aqui quem fala é [NOME DO APOIADOR] e quero deixar um recado especial: no dia 4 de outubro, meu apoio para deputada federal é Ruth Venceremos, 1361, a candidata do MST! Ruth é militante do MST, pedagoga e educadora, comprometida com a reforma agrária, a agroecologia, o combate à fome e a defesa dos direitos da população LGBTQIA+. É uma companheira que luta, organiza e transforma, levando para a política as bandeiras dos movimentos populares e da classe trabalhadora. Por isso, no dia 4 de outubro, conte comigo: Ruth Venceremos, 1361, para deputada federal! E para presidente, é Lula, 13! Com Ruth e com o MST, vamos juntos construir um Brasil com mais direitos, justiça social, reforma agrária e dignidade para todos e todas! Ruth Venceremos, 1361! Lula, 13! Aperta e confirma! O post Ruth Venceremos – 1361 apareceu primeiro em MST.