The Dark Side of canned Tomatoes

Canned tomatoes is an irreplaceable ingredient in most Danish kitchens but only few consumers know that the canned tomatoes in the supermarkets are picked by illegal immigrants.

If you are like most Danes, you will buy a couple of cans of tomatoes for less than dkk10 on your next shopping trip. Most canned tomatoes in the largest Danish supermarkets come from Southern Italy where up to half a million poor and often illegal immigrants without a contract are being exploited by gang leaders and the tomato farms.

Danwatch has investigated thirteen canned tomato brands that are sold in supermarkets owned by the largest Danish grocery corporations; Dansk Supermarked, Coop Danmark and Dagrofa and the German Lidl. Ten of these brands contain tomatoes from Puglia in the heel of Italy.

Exploitation of illegal labor

The Italian association for juridical studies of immigration (ASGI) points to the fact that up to 65 percent of all employees in Italian farming are employed without a contract and that more than 250.000 agricultural workers are illegal immigrants. This means that the use of illegal labor in Southern Italy is so widespread that there is a large possibility that the canned tomatoes in the Danish supermarkets contain tomatoes that are picked by illegal workers.

However, the responsible corporations do not follow their canned tomatoes from harvest to shelves. Neither do they take on the full responsibility for all links in their supply chain. The investigation shows that it is only the manufacturer BioItalia (that is sold in SuperBrugsen) that has certified traceability for the entire supply chain and who takes full responsibility for all links in their supply chain.   

Dagligvarekoncernerne sikrer de danske forbrugere, at de lever op til deres sociale ansvar via nedskrevne CSR-politikker og etiske retningslinjer. Både Coop Danmark og Dansk Supermarked har skrevet under på Global C

The grocery corporations ensure the Danish consumers that they live up to their social responsibility via written CSR policies and ethical guidelines. Both Coop Danmark and Dansk Supermarked has signed the Global Compact for Business Responsibility. Nevertheless, the corporations cannot guarantee the consumers that the tomatoes in their canned tomatoes are not picked by illegal laborers, who work under conditions violating their human and labor rights. Only the brands Agrigenus and Mutti, traded in Føtex and Superbest, can guarantee that no illegal workers are exploited in their production since they do not use seasonal workers in Southern Italy

The red gold

The grocery corporations buy the canned tomatoes from Italian processing factories or importers. It is these processing factories who purchase the “red gold”, which the tomatoes are called in Southern Italy.

The grocery corporations sign contracts with their suppliers wherein the suppliers commit to obeying the ethical guidelines of the corporation. The corporations however disclaim the full responsibility of the guidelines being complied with on the tomato farms. They believe the responsibility for the working conditions and -rights lie with the supplier.  

The suppliers of the supermarket chain Irma, which is owned by Coop Danmark, sign the ethical guidelines of Coop Danmark, which include respect for human- and labor rights. However, Signe Frese, environmental spokesperson at Irma, points out:

“It is difficult if not impossible to guarantee that the supplier complies with everything in our contract. The supplier is committing to comply with our Code of Conduct and we of course trust that he does.”

Dansk Supermarked as well demands their suppliers to ensure reasonable working conditions, but again it is up to the supplier to make sure the subcontractors live up to the established demands and standard.

“We do everything we can to ensure that our suppliers comply with our trade agreement but we have to acknowledge that it is difficult to ensure the entire supply chain,” says head of press for Dansk Supermarked, Mads Hvitved Grand.

Not good enough

Sune Skadegaard Thorsen, who is an expert on CSR and CEO of Global CSR thinks that Danish businesses should do more if they wish to live up to their social responsibilities.

“You have to trust your suppliers but the UN Guiding Principles from 2011 spell out how businesses should deal with this issue. First of all, the business has a responsibility throughout the entire supply chain. When businesses are made aware that illegal immigrants are being used in Southern Italy, they must act to solve the problem. It is not enough to write off or pass along the responsibility to the suppliers.

Sune Skadegaard Thorsen explains that all businesses are subject to the UN Guiding Principles. Those who signed the UN Global Compact for Businesses and Human Rights should all know the UN Guiding Principles that define how businesses live up to the six first principles of UN Global Compact, which entail human rights and labor rights.  

“The grocery corporations must initiate a plan of action to handle the issues. If a business publicly expresses that it respects human rights it commits – also towards the consumer – to take responsibility for the entire supply chain and not just the first link,” Sune Skadegaard Thorsen concludes.

Danish businesses decline responsibility

Just like Dansk Supermarked and Coop Danmark, Dagrofa refers to the responsibility of the supplier to ensure labor conditions on the tomato farms. Dagrofa, who is responsible for the brands Grøn Balance, First Price and Smagens Køkken, is the only corporation willing to guarantee that their suppliers are not using illegal labor. However, the responsibility and the guarantee lie with the suppliers, says head of communications Markela Dedopoulos.

The manufacturers of the brands La Doria, De Clemente and Mutti cooperate with tomato manufacturers, unions and politicians to fight the exploitation of illegal labor. Coop has initiated a process to map their supply chain to deal with the issue of exploiting immigrants.  

ompact for virksomhedsansvar. Alligevel kan koncernerne ikke garantere forbrugerne, at tomaterne i deres dåsetomater ikke er plukket af illegal arbejdskraft, der arbejder under forhold, der krænker deres menneske- og arbejdstagerrettigheder. Kun mærkerne Agrigenus og Mutti, der forhandles i Føtex og Superbest, kan garantere, at der ikke udnyttes illegal arbejdskraft i deres produktion, da de ikke bruger sæsonarbejdere i Syditalien.

Det røde guld

Dagligvarekoncernerne køber dåsetomaterne fra italienske forarbejdningsfabrikker eller importører. Det er disse forarbejdningsfabrikker, der opkøber “det røde guld”, som tomaterne kaldes i Syditalien.
Dagligvarekoncernerne indgår kontrakter med deres leverandører, hvori de forpligter sig til at følge koncernernes etiske retningslinjer. Koncernerne fralægger sig dog det fulde ansvar for at disse retningslinjers efterleves på tomatgårdene. De mener, at ansvaret for tomatplukkernes arbejdsforhold og rettigheder ligger hos leverandøren.
Leverandører til supermarkedskæden Irma, som ejes af Coop Danmark, underskriver Coop Danmarks etiske regelsæt, som inkluderer respekt for menneske- og arbejdstagerrettigheder. Ansvarlighedschef i Irma, Signe Frese, påpeger dog:

“Det er svært, hvis ikke umuligt at garantere, at leverandøren overholder alt i vores kontrakt. Leverandøren skriver under på, at han efterlever vores Code of Conduct (etiske regelsæt red.), og det stoler vi naturligvis på, at han overholder.”

Også Dansk Supermarked stiller krav til sine leverandører om at sikre rimelige arbejdsforhold, men igen er det leverandørernes ansvar, at underleverandører lever op til de opstillede krav og standarder.
“Vi gør alt, hvad vi kan for at sikre, at vores leverandører overholder vores samhandelsaftale, men må også erkende, at det er svært at kontrollere hele værdikæden,” siger Dansk Supermarkeds pressechef Mads Hvitved Grand.

Ikke godt nok

Sune Skadegaard Thorsen, der er CSR ekspert og direktør i GLOBAL CSR, mener, at danske virksomheder bør gøre meget mere, hvis man ønsker at leve op til sit samfundsansvar.

“Man bliver nødt til at stole på sine leverandører, men FN’s retningslinjer fra 2011 udpensler, hvordan virksomhederne skal forholde sig til denne problemstilling. For det første har virksomheden et ansvar i hele kæden. Når virksomhederne bliver opmærksom på problemerne med udnyttelse af illegale immigranter i Syditalien, skal de handle for at komme problemet til livs. Det er ikke nok at afskrive sig eller sende ansvaret videre til leverandørerne.”

Sune Skadegaard Thorsen forklarer, at alle virksomheder er omfattet af FN’s Retningslinjer fra 2011. Dem der har underskrevet FN’s Global Compact for virksomhedsansvar, burde af alle kende FN’s Retningslinjerne, der definerer hvordan virksomhederne lever op til FN Global Compact’s første seks principper, der omhandler menneskerettigheder og  arbejdstagerrettigheder.

“Dagligvarekoncernerne skal iværksætte en handlingsplan til at håndtere udfordringen. Hvis en virksomhed offentligt udtrykker, at den respekterer menneskerettighederne forpligter den sig, også over for forbrugeren, til at tage ansvar for hele varekæden, og ikke blot det første led.” afslutter Sune Skadeg

Danske virksomheder fralægger sig ansvaret

Ligesom Dansk Supermarked og Coop Danmark henviser Dagrofa til, at leverandøren har ansvaret for at sikre arbejdsforholdene på tomatgårdene. Dagrofa, der er ansvarlig for mærkerne Grøn Balance, First Price og Smagens Køkken, vil som den eneste koncern garantere, at deres leverandører ikke bruger illegal arbejdskraft. Ansvaret og garantien er dog leverandørens, påpeger kommunikationschef Markela Dedopoulos.
Producenterne af mærkerne La Doria, De Clemente og Mutti samarbejder med tomatproducenter, fagforeninger og politikere for at komme udnyttelse af ulovlig arbejdskraft til livs. Coop har påbegyndt en proces for at kortlægge deres varekæde, for at takle problemet med udnyttelse af immigranter.

Brands, manufacturers and supermarkets in the investigation