It may or may not be a match made in heaven but the acquisition of Cadbury by Kraft has already lit the blue touch paper over fears that the English company’s approach to CSR may not be shared by its new owner.

Cadbury has long traded on its strong ethical code, and hit the headlines last year when it announced plans to use only fair-trade cocoa beans in its Daily Milk bars.

Now the Fairtrade Foundation has begun talks with Cadbury’s executives in an attempt to establish whether the company’s agreement to purchase all it cocoa beans for Dairy Milk from fairtrade sources will continue.

“The Fairtrade Foundation and Cadbury have a shared vision for the future, and there are contractual commitments in place, which will form part of any intellectual property transfer between Cadbury and Kraft in any takeover,” read a statement from the Foundation following the announcement of the acquisition.

For its part, Kraft has also invested heavily in its cocoa suppliers in the Ivory Coast, and its UK corporate affairs director, Jonathan Horrell, recently confirmed to the Guardian that the company planned to maintain Cadbury’s contracts with the Fairtrade Foundation.

Kraft Food’s executive vice president, procurement, Julia Brown, also outlined the increasingly important role that sustainability was playing in the company’s sourcing strategy.

“We have a very strong focus on sustainability and protecting the planet,” said Brown. “Given that so much of what we buy is agriculturally based, it’s about how you preserve the land and preserve the planet for the future.

“We’re not only keeping on eye on that (sustainability) in terms of what we’re doing but in terms of what our suppliers are doing. We try to partner with those that have pretty robust sustainability goals and targets.”

Those sentiments would surely have the approval of those involved in Cadbury’s sustainability operations - although whether Kraft has done enough sweet-talking to calm ongoing fears over its future plans remain to be seen.