Protein & Nutrition Blog – Marmels

Bar chart of share of world cacao production by origin: Cote d'Ivoire 38.2 percent, Ghana 12.4, Ecuador 9.9, Nigeria 7.2, Cameroon 6.6, Brazil 4.3 and Indonesia 4.1

Protein & Nutrition Blog – Marmels

What Does Single-Origin Chocolate Mean?

by Mo Mandegar, PhD on Sep 05 2026
The map on the front of a chocolate bar is doing less work than most shoppers assume. Single-origin means the cacao came from one defined place, and nothing more. It is not defined by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it does not grade the beans, and it says nothing about how farmers were paid. Here is what the claim actually covers, why so little chocolate qualifies when one country supplies about 38 percent of world cacao, and how it stacks up against the other terms on the wrapper.