If it’s organic, is it also child labour free?

Posted on 6 December 2011, 13:53

Prompted by our Wake up! Emerald nuts campaign, Laurie, a supporter, sent us an interesting and rather pertinent question. We’d like to share the question and its response, because it’s a quandary we can imagine many consumers are faced with when they go about their grocery shopping.

If you too have pressing questions about sustainability please feel free to contact us.

Laurie writes:

“Dear Fairfood staff,

After signing your petition requesting that Diamond Foods and other food processing corporations reveal the source of the cashews they buy, I enquired with my local food cooperative here in Ithaca, New York.  Can you provide us with any information about organic cashews from Cote d’Ivoire and Vietnam, purchased through a company called OLAM?  We are hoping that organic farms have decent labor conditions, but know that this is not guaranteed.

Thank you for your help and all your good work.

Sincerely,
Laurie
Ithaca, New York, USA”

Dear Laurie,

Thank you for your question. Although we are in contact with OLAM, we have not yet approached them about these issues in their supply chain, hence we cannot comment on the effectiveness of their practices. However, we can definitely help answer your questions on organic farming and labour conditions.

At Fairfood International, our research department benchmarks the standards from sustainability initiatives and certification labels against issues identified in our own sustainability agenda.

There are numerous national and international organic standards, which ensure that food is produced and processed in environmentally friendly ways. For example while the USDA Organics label has a rigorous third party verification and monitoring system which ensures sound land and biodiversity management principles are applied, there are no checks on whether the supply chain is free of child labour, or whether workers’ rights are respected throughout.

For example, in Cote D’Ivoire an estimated 35 percent of children aged 5-14 are employed, while in Vietnam this figure is 16 percent. Nearly half of these are involved in the worst forms of child labour. This includes, long working hours, hard physical work, unhealthy and unsafe activities and schedules that leave little time for education and leisure.

For any company, in any sector, which operates within such environments, the risk of involving child labour in the supply chain is high. To combat these risks it is important that companies implement initiatives along their supply chains, which address these concerns. These initiatives help design and implement policies and practices that address social, environmental and economic problems present in the food and beverage industry.

Hence it’s clear that organic certification is a limited solution to the problem. Without specific mechanisms to address social and economic problems, especially in high-risk sectors, organic certification alone does not offer a sufficient guarantee that the supply chain is child labour free.

Yours sincerely,
Fairfood International