Ebola A Threat To Louisiana Chocolate Makers?

Chances are during this whole Ebola crisis you have not thought about how the deadly illness could affect your sweet tooth. The truth is that it could. Since the part of the world where Ebola has been most prevalent is also the same general part of the world where most of the world's cocoa bean supply comes from, Ebola could be having an affect on your favorite chocolates.

Michael Nelson, Vice President of Operations for Elmer's Candy Corporation in Ponchatula told the Louisiana Radio Network,

"So I would think that people hear about a scare or a potential mass outbreak where there's going to be significant fatalities and then they think that must affect the harvest of cocoa in that region,"

Just to be clear the greatest incidence of Ebola is in Liberia while most of the world's cocoa beans come from neighboring Ghana.

Does this mean it's possible to get Ebola from eating chocolate? Not at all.

The deadly sickness could affect how much you have to pay for your chocolate though. The annual harvest is about to begin and with so much speculation and confusion about the Ebola virus exporters and importers might have difficulties in getting their crops to refiners such as Elmer's.

Right now there has been a little bit of movement in the price of cocoa beans on the open market. Whether Ebola will move that market to higher prices remains unclear but as for now it looks as if the supply will be more than enough to keep up with the demand.