Google is exiting China for a number of reasons, including the hacking
of its data, but fundamentally, Google found that it couldn’t live up to
its values of openness in a repressive society. Whole Foods Market has a
different China problem: The company imports lots of organic food from
China, but it’s hard to know whether the state run system of agriculture
and organic inspections can be trusted.
The “natural and organic” supermarket chain has been generating
unwanted attention for the foods that it sources from China for at least
a couple of years. The most recent bit of news is a Florida lawsuit
that adds an incendiary charge–that one of Whole Foods’ big suppliers
relies on forced labor. This is only an allegation, and the evidence is
skimpy, to say the least, but it’s another reason that branded companies
like Whole Foods had better fully understand their supply chains,
wherever they may lead.
In fact, all companies would do well to
think about
traceability–the idea that they should know the origins of the
commodities they use. Without traceability, companies can’t be serious
about sustainability. (More about that in this 2009 blogpost, Why Traceability Matters.) Patagonia, Tiffany &
Co., Wal-Mart and many others are learning the value of transparent
supply chains.
Sometimes companies learn the hard way. Last week, Nestle and its Kit
Kat bars came under sustained attack from Greenpeace, which
charged that the global food giant “uses palm oil from companies that
are trashing Indonesian rainforests, threatening the livelihoods of
local people and pushing orangutans towards extinction.” This set off a
major brouhaha–Nestle asked YouTube to take down a
video from Greenpeace (which, of course, brought more attention),
then told critics on its Facebook page not to mess around with its logo, then printed a response on its website that raised as many
questions as it answers. Like most controversies, this one is complex
but it appears that Nestle was doing business and still may be with a
palm oil producer called Sinar Mas which is accused of leveling
Indonesian rainforests to make way for palm oil plantations.
Back to Whole Foods: The Florida lawsuit, which hasn’t gotten much
press, was filed in a state court by a group called Southeast Consumer
Alliance that lawyer Bruce Baldwin told me was formed, in part, to hold
companies accountable through lawsuits. The suit, which is seeking
class-action status, alleges that Whole Foods violated Florida’s
deceptive and unfair trade practices act by labeling as “organic” foods
from China that were “the product of a venture using forced labor” and
“were not properly certified under the National Organic Program (NOP).”
The source for the forced labor allegation is a website run by the Falun
Gong, a dissident group that opposes the Chinese government.
The
allegation that foods imported from China don’t meet
organic standards deserves to be taken more seriously. It’s not
new: In 2008, Roberta Baskin, a reporter with an ABC-TV station in
Washington ran a story questioning China’s organic standards (available
here) in which she pointed out, among other things, that 365 Brand
frozen “California style” vegetables are imported from China. It
includes this exchange between Baskin and Linda Greer, a scientist at
the Natural Resources Defense Council:
Linda Greer: ”I wouldn’t buy something organic from China with the
idea that it’s truly organic.”Baskin: “Why not?”
Greer: “The reason is we’ve had such a difficult time tracking things.”
The issue isn’t hypothetical. The TV station tested powdered ginger
that was sold as organic at Whole Foods and found it contained a
pesticide called Aldicarb. The company pulled the ginger off its shelves, as did others
who imported the ginger.