Ferrero Rocher hit by child labour fears
CHILDREN as young as six may have picked the hazelnuts used to make millions of Ferrero Rocher chocolates, human rights campaigners claim.
Ferrero, which also produces the popular spread Nutella, as well as Kinder and Thorntons chocolates, buys almost 50,000 tons of hazelnuts every year from Turkey – where child labour is widespread.
According to the most recent Turkish government records from 2012, 900,000 children worked in six sectors, including farming. Of those, 11,300 were aged between six and 14.
In 2018, 67 children and teenagers lost their lives while working in Turkey, according to the Centre for Child Rights.
Ferrero, the world’s third-biggest chocolate maker, is based in Piedmont, Northern Italy, and had a turnover of €10.7bn last year.
An estimated 130million Ferrero Rocher are sold in the UK every year.
Ferrero said it was ‘determined to prevent and eliminate child labour all along our supply chains’.
But a spokesman admitted that barely half the hazelnuts used in its products are traced. He said: ‘The complexity of the hazelnut supply chain means it cannot be transformed by one single actor.’
Interviews with child workers in Turkey filmed by campaign groups include children allegedly as young as 11 claiming they are forced to work up to 12 hours a day,
The Guardian reported.
In one clip, an 11-year-old girl says: ‘We walk to the field at 6.30am and start working at seven or 7.30am. We work until 6pm.’