The company behind some of your favorite chocolate bars is accused of relying on child labor to assist in the harvest of cocoa beans used in its products, like M&M's and Snickers.

According to a CBS News investigation published Wednesday, Mars Inc., a leading manufacturer in petcare, snacking and food brands, has kids as young as 5 years old working in cocoa fields in Ghana that supply the company with the beans they need to make chocolate bars. This, the outlet said, is despite Mars’ pledge to eradicate the use of child labor in their supply chain by 2025.

After a visit across the cocoa belt in Ghana, CBS News found children working at each of the farms they visited.

The investigation also found that some of the children the company listed as beneficiaries of a “robust monitoring system” intended to keep children off the plantation and in school were still working in the fields.

Thousands of children from the region were said to be included on the list, but a cocoa field supervisor employed by Mars shared with CBS News that, "almost every data" used to make up the lists "is cooked ... or is not accurate," adding that he had personally "made up lists before."

Key findings in the CBS News report

Here are some of the key findings CBS News journalists found after their visit. Read the full investigation at cbsnews.com.

◾ Field supervisors shared that they were under pressure to produce names of children, usually with less than a day's notice. The company never checked back in to make sure the children listed existed.

◾ Only one-third of the 300 children registered to attend one of the schools CBS News visited attended classes, sharing that they worked in the fields before or after school.

◾ No one has returned to check whether one girl the company visited about 18 months ago to provide her with school supplies was attending classes.

◾ Over a dozen children CBS News spoke with confirmed that they were not in school or had been regularly monitored to make sure they were attending classes.

Mars responds in a statement

CBS News included a statement from Mars in their investigation, in which the company said they condemn the use of child labor.

Mars has not returned USA TODAY’s request for comment.

“Despite our requests, CBS did not provide specific details of their investigation to Mars ahead of time in order for us to investigate claims of misconduct at the time of this report. We treat any claim of misconduct in our supply chain very seriously and we will thoroughly investigate once we have the necessary information and take appropriate action,” a Mars spokesperson shared with CBS News.