Nestle discloses use of forced labor in its seafood supply chain
In an atypical move, Nestle itself stepped out and admitted it found the use of forced labor along its seafood supply chain in Thailand. Last year, after several reports surfaced showing the inhumane treatment of workers on boats in Thailand, Nestle decided to launch its own investigation in December 2014. The company found that nearly every European and US-based company buying seafood from Thailand is exposed to the same risk of supply chain worker exploitation and abuse. The food manufacturing giant has decided to make their findings public, and will post the investigation results online. The move to come forward is being praised by human rights organizations, proving that honesty truly can be the best policy.
Along with the study results, Nestle will release its plan for 2016 to combat forced labor along the seafood supply chain. Initiatives will include training programs for boat owners on the topic of human rights and rewards could potentially be used for suppliers that show improvement in their treatment of workers. A high level manager will be assigned to this program and outside auditors will be called upon to ensure the change the company wants to see is taking place. Nestle does not have extensive ties to the seafood trade in Thailand, however suppliers from this region are used for the company’s Purina Fancy Feast cat food.
For more on this topic, click here.
Amazon Prime one hour delivery a Thanksgiving savior?
Did you burn your pumpkin pie and turn to Amazon this Thanksgiving to save your feast? As part of its Prime Now initiative, Amazon stood ready in select zip codes to deliver essential festive ingredients, games and hostess gifts for last minute or forgetful shoppers. Customers simply needed to enter their zip code to find out if the $7.99 one hour service was available in their area. The aim was to prevent people from having to run errands on an otherwise chaotic and busy day.
Speaking of chaos, Amazon is truly outdoing itself this year for Black Friday. The company’s Black Friday offers started on November 20th and will continue until November 28th. New product offerings are being entered onto the page, dedicated exclusively to Black Friday, at double the rate of last year’s deals. This makes for a new deal up to every five minutes. Taking it a step further, Amazon’s “Watch a Deal” offering for mobile users will alert shoppers once their coveted items are up on the docket for a special deal.
For more on Amazon’s holiday plans, click here.
Counterintuitive food supply chain study results
Results of a study conducted by a research team from Penn State Smeal College of Business suggests careful examination of food systems is required in order to achieve desired social and environmental objectives, and that localization may not always be the best option. The study looked specifically at fluid milk and was restricted to 5 Northeast states in the US. Buying local fluid milk can prove beneficial for small restaurants and local businesses. However, when taken to the extreme, namely reconfiguring the supply chain so the 5 states would only consume milk produced within their own borders, results proved to be counterintuitive. Overall supply chain costs would rise as would the total distance traveled by fluid milk and other dairy products, resulting in higher greenhouse gas emissions.
For more on the study results, click here.
Have a nice weekend!
