Nestlé S.A., a transnational food and beverage company, has revealed that during its recent year-long investigation, slavery and other human rights as well as labor abuses have been identified, urging Nestlé S.A. to put an end to the issue. This was announced by the company last Nov. 23, 2015
The human rights violations include those poor migrant workers from Asian countries who were reported to be sold or forced into slavery to catch and process fish. Consequently, it then ends up in various seafood supply chains through those fish farms and other manufactured products.
Amherst, MA-based Verité, a group focusing on labor conditions related to global supply chains, were the one's in-charge for the investigation, and they found out that such abuses are all forms of undesirable widespread among Asian suppliers which provide Nestlé with raw materials for the company's shrimp, prawns and Purina brand pet foods. Verité's assessment has also looked into six production sites located in Thailand, and it was discovered that three of them were shrimp farms, two were ports of origin, and one was a docked fishing boat.
Reports show that these sites were identified as the place related with the fish feed which is used on farms that are known for producing whole prawns for Nestlé.
Furthermore, Verité has also found possibilities of forced labor, child labor and human trafficking, as well as specious recruitment and pay practices and exploitative and hazardous working conditions. A lot of these fishermen were identified as citizens of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.
In terms of revenue, and being the largest food company in the world, Nestlé has also noted that the results of its contracted investigation indicated that any food company sourcing Thai seafood is apparently putting the risk of a possibility of human rights abuses in the chains of their supply.
Moreover, in order to train captains and boat owners in better operating the industry, raise awareness about the required labor standards, establish better traceability of raw materials, and enable the verification of labor standards in fishing vessels, the company has already said that it will set up a migrant workforce emergency response team that aims to help the victims.
Nestlé, in its response to the California lawsuit has released its statements claiming that its already on the process of investigating the complaints and has strongly disagreed that forced labor had no place in its supply chain.
