A BBC investigation into child labor and worker exploitation in Turkey - in the hazelnut plantations that supply Ferrero - has 'curiously' escaped the attention of the national press.
The true costs of Nutella
Nutella is the best-selling spread in the world. Annual production is estimated at 365 thousand tons, equal to the weight of the Empire State Building. The empire founded in Alba - with a holding in Luxembourg and branches on 5 continents (1) - bases its fortunes on seemingly affordable prices. And sensational commercial policies, which have led to its brands (Nutella, Kinder Rocher, Tic-Tac, Summer Tea) to the most famous global reconnaissance.
The real costs Of these ultra-processed food they are very high. But they do not affect the industrial giant, which in fact maintains an extraordinary profitability and has been buying up, for some years, various other groups in Europe and the USA. Instead, these are outsourced costs:
- upstream, on workers, local communities and ecosystems where agricultural production of raw materials takes place (Palm oil (in primis)),
- downstream, on consumers e public health in the countries of destination of the goods. Roughly in every corner of the planet, with varying intensity.
Turkish hazelnuts and food safety
Turkey it currently produces about 75% of the hazelnuts on the planet. Thanks also to Ferrero, which has invested enormous resources in the development of this supply chain. Until acquiring, in 2014, the first supplier of hazelnut in the world, the Holtan group of Trebizond (with 5 plants in Turkey).
Why privilege Turkish hazelnut is simple. Between 2012 and 2014 its price was stable at 92 € / quintal, against the 670 € of the Italian one. Since 2015, the increase in supply and the devaluation of the Turkish lira (which has tripled the exchange rate) have brought down the prices of the Piedmontese trilobite - halved in a few years, up to 330 € / q in 2018 - and improved annuities. to Byzantium (200 € / q).
Food safety of the hazelnut turkish has always been problematic, due to the high levels of aflatoxins. The most dangerous mycotoxins, as genotoxic, hepatocarcinogenic and toxic to the immune system.
The European Commission however, in 2010, it increased the aflatoxin contamination thresholds by 150%. (3) 'Combination', right on the hazelnuts (!). Although the danger remains unchanged and the exposure of children aged 3 years and over is still underestimated (since the toxicological thresholds are established on adults, whose weight is several times higher than the youngest).
Turkish hazelnuts and worker exploitation
THEBBC investigation aims to understand the cost differential between Turkish and European hazelnuts. Journalist Tim Wheeler visited the crops, witnessed the harvest and interviewed several operators. He documented the grueling work of the collectors. 10 hours a day, manual collection and transport of bags weighing an average of 35Kg.
Most of it some activities are carried out by seasonal workers, especially Kurds, who come from the poorest regions of the country. The official daily wage set by the local authorities at € 15. Processed on an hourly basis, it is lower than the minimum monthly wage for a 40-45 hour working week (€ 318). But it tends to halve, after paying a 10% commission to the job contractor, in addition to travel and accommodation costs on site.
Nutella and child labor
The BBC reporter he wonders if there is child labor behind the collection of hazelnuts for Nutella. You photographed and interviewed two children aged 10 and 12, well below the minimum age to work in Turkey, engaged in the collection. These children receive an average of € 10 for each grueling day of work, from which they deduct 10% commissions for employers, as well as travel and accommodation costs.
The supply chain it is described to the English journalist by some manvas, the local traders participating in it, in the following terms:
- the state it should control (and prevent) child labor, but in fact
- 400 thousand micro-companies agricultural workers entrust the work to an uncontrolled flow of laborers and minor laborers,
- manvas they receive the fruits from the myriad of micro-companies and resell them to the trader, which in turn supply Ferrero and other industries.
Traceability it is a mirage, and it is currently impossible to verify which, among the thousands of tons of goods, are derived from companies that exploit child labor. Ferrero itself buys about a third of the total Turkish production and declares that it can now 'track' 39% of supplies. With what detail, it is not known.
Big food and child exploitation
The UN Convention on the rights of the child was adopted unanimously by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 20.11.89. And it is supplemented by the ILO Convention (International Labor Organization) 17.6.99 no. 182, 'relating to the prohibition of the worst forms of child labor'.
'States Parties recognize the right of the child to be protected against economic exploitation and not to be forced into any work which involves risks or is likely to endanger his education or harm his health or development. physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social'(UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, article 32.1)
Big food - 100 years after the founding of the ILO and 30 years after the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - continues to exploit workers without any rights and child labor in low and middle income countries (LMIC, Low-Middle Income Countries). With the shield of the local intermediaries who certainly do not exempt the recipients of the goods from co-responsibility in illegal and criminal activities.
The responsibilities of each
Child exploitation is amply proven and overt in the palm oil supply chains, of cocoa and now also some hazelnuts. The industrial giants responsible for these and other international crimes against humanity and the environment - such as land robbery and deforestation, at the center of the our Buycott campaign! - they also boast of being 'sustainable'. With munificent operations of greenwashing to which nobody, or almost, reacts.
Politics nevertheless remains subservient to the claims of the giants of the financial industry, which in fact make use of powerful LOBBY on all levels. For for example, prevent the adoption of public health measures aimed at the prevention of obesity, overweight and related diseases (NCDs, Non-communicable diseases). While the press is kept on a leash, with the carrot of generous publicity and the stick of lawsuits.
Ethical consumer choices
We allwe are ultimately responsible. We have to decide every day whether:
- contribute to the lucrative business of supply chains based on the inhuman exploitation of children. For the laziness of throwing the best-known brands into the cart and the 'cunning' of giving in to promotions, or
- impose a turning point. Just choose fair trade products, all the better if Biography.
In the case of sweets, the starting point is to always exclude those with palm oil and favor the choice of hazelnuts produced in Italy.
# Égalité, #IoVotocolPortafoglio
Dario Dongo and Guido Cortese
Footnotes
(1) Since 1956, the year of the inauguration of the first large plant in Germany, Ferrero has extended production and commercial offices first in France, then in Belgium, Holland, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain. In the following decades, companies and factories were opened in North and South America, South East Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, Australia. Lastly also in Turkey, Mexico and China
(2) M&A transactions (Mergers and Acquisitions), by Ferrero SpA, in recent years:
- 2014, acquisition of Oltan (now Ferrero Findik, Turkey), leader global in the harvesting, roasting and sale of hazelnuts,
- 2015, acquisition of 30% of the shares of the Thorntons group (UK, chocolate, € 131 million),
- 2016, purchase of Delacre (Delacre and DeliChoc brands, Belgium, biscuits premium) from United Biscuits,
- 2017, purchase in the USA of Fannie May (chocolate) and Ferrara Candy Company (candies),
- 2018, acquisition of Nestlé's confectionery division in the USA (US $ 2,8 billion, excluding the Kit Kat brand),
- 2019, purchase of a series of implants in the USA and Kellogg's brands (biscuits, snack with fruit and fruit flavors, ice cream cones and cakes, US $ 1,3 billion),
- 2019-2020, acquisition of the shares of Campbell Soup Company in the Kelsen Group (brands Royal Dansk and Kjeldsens, Denmark, biscuits and snack, US $ 300 million. Transfer to be completed within the next few months)
(3) See reg. UE 165/10, which amends the previous reg. CE 1881/06. The thresholds of aflatoxins allowed in hazelnuts'intended for direct human consumption or for use as an ingredient in food products'have increased:
- 2 to 5 μg / kg (aflatoxin B1)
- 4 to 10 μg / kg (sum of aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2)
(4) See https://www.unicef.it/Allegati/Convra_diritti_infanzia_1.pdf
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Computer scientist and professional beekeeper. A former conscientious objector, he served and then volunteered in a canteen for the homeless in Turin. He deals with the right to food, food policy, food sovereignty and biodiversity. He founded the association of Metropolitan Pollinators with the aim of defending biodiversity through specific projects of social and environmental regeneration. He represents the Slow Food Community of Metropolitan Pollinators. He promoted the birth of the national network of urban beekeepers. He directs an independent agricultural market, collaborates and writes for Egalitè (Onlus Rome) which deals with defending the rights of disadvantaged people, and with the newspapers Great ItalianFood Trade, Qualiformaggio, L'apicoltore Italiano and minor magazines.
