Nestl� Makes Another Damning Admission: Slave Labor in Brazil May Have Produced Coffee Products - Atlanta Black Star

15.3.16

Nestl� Makes Another Damning Admission: Slave Labor in Brazil May Have Produced Coffee Products - Atlanta Black Star: After this new revelation, the company released the following statement:

“We do not tolerate violations of labor rights and have strongly maintained that forced labor has no place in our supply chain. Unfortunately, forced labor is an endemic problem in Brazil and no company sourcing coffee and other ingredients from the country can fully guarantee that it has completely removed forced labor practices or human rights abuses from its supply chain.”

Nearly one-third of the world’s coffee supply comes from Brazil, and many other companies also may have obtained beans from plantations that use slave labor. For the country to meet the large demand of coffee makers, plantation owners cut costs by providing poor and inhumane working conditions for their laborers.

DanWatch reports that laborers are severely indebted to their employers, have inhabitable living quarters and no protective equipment. These new details came from an investigation of Brazilian farms over several months, which prompted Nestl� to come forth.

Another food supplier released a statement that tried to spin the situation. Jacobs Douwe Egberts and Nestl� account for an estimated 39 percent of the world’s coffee products.

“We are committed to working with governments, non-governmental organizations, suppliers, farmer cooperatives and the entire coffee supply chain to improve the working conditions for coffee farmers throughout the world. We currently support 15 such program in nine countries, including Brazil,” said a Jacobs Douwe Egberts statement.

Nestl� first told DanWatch about the possible slave-produced coffee beans.