Nestle Investigates Child Labor in Supply Chain
Nestl is the first food company to decide to work with the Fair Labor Association (FLA) to investigate whether children are working on cocoa farms supplying its factories.
The FLA is a non-profit multi-stakeholder initiative that works with major companies to improve working conditions in their supply chains. In January 2012, the FLA will send independent experts to Cte d’Ivoire to examine Nestl’s cocoa supply chain. Where they find evidence of child labour, the FLA will identify the root causes and advise Nestl how to address them in ways that are sustainable and lasting.
The FLA’s role will be to provide expertise to help ensure Nestl’s efforts to eliminate child labour are more effective and transparent. The results of the FLA’s assessment, which will be made public in the spring of 2012, will guide future Nestl operations.
“Child labour has no place in our supply chain,” says Nestl’s Executive Vice President for Operations Jos Lopez. “We cannot solve the problem on our own, but by working with a partner like the FLA we can make sure our efforts to address it are targeted where they are needed most.”
The work with the FLA will complement Nestl’s efforts to promote sustainability and better working practices in its cocoa supply chain which it set out in the Nestl Cocoa Plan. The Cocoa Plan is a 10 year, CHF 110 million commitment to provide higher quality cocoa plantlets to farmers and to make the cocoa supply chain more traceable.
The FLA is a non-profit multi-stakeholder initiative that works with major companies to improve working conditions in their supply chains. In January 2012, the FLA will send independent experts to Cte d’Ivoire to examine Nestl’s cocoa supply chain. Where they find evidence of child labour, the FLA will identify the root causes and advise Nestl how to address them in ways that are sustainable and lasting.
The FLA’s role will be to provide expertise to help ensure Nestl’s efforts to eliminate child labour are more effective and transparent. The results of the FLA’s assessment, which will be made public in the spring of 2012, will guide future Nestl operations.
“Child labour has no place in our supply chain,” says Nestl’s Executive Vice President for Operations Jos Lopez. “We cannot solve the problem on our own, but by working with a partner like the FLA we can make sure our efforts to address it are targeted where they are needed most.”
The work with the FLA will complement Nestl’s efforts to promote sustainability and better working practices in its cocoa supply chain which it set out in the Nestl Cocoa Plan. The Cocoa Plan is a 10 year, CHF 110 million commitment to provide higher quality cocoa plantlets to farmers and to make the cocoa supply chain more traceable.