By Guy Montague-Jones

A new US Department of Labor (DOL) report has found that slavery and child labor are still common in the production of popular food ingredients like cocoa and sugar.

Commissioned under legislation passed in 2005, the report sought to uncover the scale of the forced and child labor problem and draft a list of goods produced under conditions that violate international standards.

The newly published report has found 122 goods in 58 countries that are produced using child labor, forced labor or both, including cocoa, sugarcane and coffee.

Labor violations in sugarcane production were found in 15 countries and in coffee production 12 countries were identified. Child labor and forced labor practices were also uncovered in the making of cocoa in five countries.

Criticisms of food manufacturers

Commenting on the findings, Tim Newman, spokesperson for the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) criticized the US food industry for not doing enough to prevent labor abuses.

Newman told Food Navigator USA: “Food manufacturers need to take more initiative to ensure that their supply chains do not involve child labor or forced labor.”

He said some companies like Cadbury are ahead of the pack in making absolutely sure that no labor abuses are committed by any of their suppliers but others like Hershey appear to be making no such commitments.

ILRF executive director Bama Athreya was particularly critical of chocolate makers. He said: “By including cocoa on the list of products made by child labor, the US government has acknowledged the lack of progress the chocolate industry has made in eliminating serious labor rights, despite years of promises.”

Chocolate defense

Nobody at the National Confectioners Association was available to comment on these accusations before publication, but yesterday the trade body posted information about responsible labor practices on its website.

It said the chocolate and cocoa industry developed an agreement in 2001, known today as the Protocol to ensure that cocoa is grown responsibly.

The Protocol set out steps to address labor issues, including the development of a certification system for cocoa farming, which NCA said is an ongoing program that will drive positive change in cocoa communities.

Labor abuse figures

Despite efforts by a number of companies in different industries to improve their labor rights record, the International Labor Organization estimates that there are 200 million children at work across the world and 12 million persons working in some form of forced labor.

The DOL hopes that the report it published today will improve awareness of these issues and give both consumers and companies more reliable information on the goods produced using forced and child labor.

“It is my strong hope that consumers, firms, governments, labor unions and other stakeholders will use this information to translate their economic power into a force for good that ultimately will eliminate exploitative child labor and forced labor,” said US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.