Starbucks and Nespresso are caught up in a child labour investigation after a new documentary discovered children as young as eight working in their coffee bean farms.
The British current affairs documentary programme Dispatches for England's Channel 4 visited seven farms in Guatemala linked to Nespresso and five linked to Starbucks. All were found to be using child labour, with some children earning little more than the cost of a cup of coffee.
A clip of the documentary posted to the Dispatches Channel 4 Facebook page shows multiple twelve-year-olds working for 31p (NZ$1.25) an hour.
Children are seen hauling 45kg sacks of beans in treacherous terrain and one child could be heard saying "my waist hurts a lot".
Host Antony Barnett asks "how old is he?" while visiting a farm. The child replies, "I'm going to be 13 soon".
Both Nespresso and Starbucks claim their products are ethically sourced on their websites, say they don't tolerate child labour and they complete checks to make sure it isn't occurring in their farms.
But in the video the programme says a mill manager told the production that Nespresso only visits the farms once a year to do checks, and Starbucks every two to four years. When they do come, the farms are given advanced notice.
In a video posted to Nespresso's YouTube chief executive Guillaume Le Cunff says his organisation is doing everything they can to stop the issue now they have been made aware of it.
"I'm obviously concerned by these allegations regarding possible child labour in Guatemala in some rainforest certified farms. Child labour has no place in our supply chain. It's just unacceptable."
Nespresso says the company has stopped purchases of coffee from all farms in the region and will not resume purchases until their investigation into the child labour allegations concludes.
Starbucks has also responded to the documentary's allegations and says: "We remain concerned and are taking action due to the fact that these farms were verified in 2019 against our ethical sourcing standards, which are the most comprehensive in the coffee industry," The Guardian reports.
Commenters on Twitter say they were surprised by the documentary's findings but wondered what would now happen.
One user posted "Starbucks and Nespresso are using child labour which means these kids aren't in school. It also means their parents aren't earning enough to support them. But if we stop drinking the coffee then what?"
Anti-slavery community Freedom United tweeted: "If businesses stop trading with poor communities they will be impoverished further. Instead of boycotting Nespresso consumers should demand better of it."
