Food Safety Concerns: Labeling in the UK and E. coli Outbreak in the US

The UK, the local Food Standards Agency is launching an advertising campaign to strengthen its efforts to label unhealthy foods and combat obesity. The FSA's goal is to color code foods such that consumers would find it easier to detect healthy foods from the unhealthy options. Food manufacturing lobbyists oppose the scheme, which is also known as "traffic light labeling."

CSR and health and safety issues in food manufacturing and distribution also made the headlines in the US this month. In Hollywood, Richard Linklater's new movie Fast Food Nation was popular (the movie is based on a non-fiction book about the US fastfood industry; see trailer below) and in the Taco Bell E. coli scandal, dozens of patrons of the popular fastfood chain fell ill after consuming E. coli contaminated produce at several of the chain's restaurants.

"Suomalaiset kauppaketjut varmistavat huonosti hankintojensa eettisyyden" (HS 26.12.06)

"Suomalaisten tavaratalojen ja markettien hankinnan eettisyyttä on hankala tutkia, sillä tietoa on tarjolla vähän. Päivittäistavarakauppaa hallitsevalla S-ketjulla on Aasiassa satoja tavarantoimittajia, joiden tuotanto-olosuhteista ei heru tietoa.

S-ryhmän hankintayhtiön Intrade Partnersin toimitusjohtaja Jouko Nieminen ei suostu edes arvioimaan, kuinka suuri osa yhtiön tuotteista tulee Kiinasta. "Ei se mikään salaisuus ole, mutta kilpailusyistä emme halua kertoa, mistä tavara ostetaan."

"Kuluttajan näkökulmasta katsottuna me noudatamme niitä määräyksiä, mitä EU:ssa on. Alkuperämaata ei tarvitse ilmoittaa."

Intrade Partners vastaa esimerkiksi Sokoksissa, Prismoissa ja S-marketeissa myytävien kestokulutustavaroiden hankinnasta.

Niistä iso osa tulee Aasiasta. Kiina on tuotantomaista halvin ja tehokkain, joten sen osuus on suurin. Jotakin osviittaa luvuista antaa se, että Tradekan Aasian-kestotavarahankinnoista 70 prosenttia tulee Kiinasta.

Tuotantoon Kiinassa liittyy paljon ongelmia. Useissa tehtaissa ei huolehdita työturvallisuudesta, työntekijöillä teetetään valtavia ylityömääriä, lain mukaisia minimipalkkoja ei makseta ja työntekijöillä ei ole mahdollisuuksia järjestäytyä ajamaan oikeuksiaan.

Suomalaisten markettien hyllyt ja rekit ovat täynnä tekstiilejä, siivoustarvikkeita ja astioita, jotka voivat hyvin olla peräisin tällaisilta tehtailta.

Kestokulutustavaroiden tuonnin sosiaaliset riskit ovat suurempia kuin elintarvikkeiden. Tämä johtuu siitä, että elintarvikkeiden laatua on valvottava tiukemmin. Samalla tavarantoimittajat ja tuotantolaitokset tulevat muutenkin tutuiksi suomalaisille sisäänostajille.

Niemisen mukaan Intrade Partners noudattaa vastuullisen tuontikaupan periaatteita. Liikekumppaneilta edellytetään sopimuksissa muun muassa lapsi- ja pakkotyövoiman käytön kieltämistä sekä työntekijöiden terveydestä ja turvallisuudesta huolehtimista.

Yhtiön työntekijät eivät itse kierrä tarkastamassa tehtaiden oloja Aasiassa. Niissä tehtaissa, joissa tarkastuksia tehdään, siitä huolehtivat paikalliset, tehtaiden sosiaalisen vastuun valvomiseen erikoistuneet organisaatiot.

Ostoista huolehtii Intrade Partnersin yhteistyökumppani, saksalaisen Karstadt Quellen hankintaorganisaatio. Se siirtyi vastikään maailman suurimman kauppahuoneen Li & Fungin omistukseen.

Hongkongissa työskentelevän, Tradekan käyttämän hankintayhtiön Intercoopin toimitusjohtajan Christian Jakobssonin mielestä suomalaiset hoitavat Aasian-ostojaan liian ohuella organisaatiolla. Hänestä hankinnan järjestelmällisyyden ja kattavuuden kehittämisessä olisi paljon tekemistä.

"Tuotannon eettisyyttä on vaikea valvoa, jos ei ole ihmisiä paikan päällä sitä tekemässä", Jakobsson toteaa."

"Vägen bara försvann framför våra ögon" (HBL 21.12.06)

"– Bilen framför oss bara försvann. Sen försvann vägen, och innan vi hann tänka låg vi nere i en lergrop, säger Monica Alexandersson, en av tjugotalet svenskar som var med om vägraset på E6 i västra Sverige på onsdagskvällen.

Beskedet från experterna är att nya ras inte kan uteslutas. Men vilka områden som ligger i farozonen är omöjligt att säga, uppger Peter Behrman, informatör på Vägverket.

– Vi är utlämnade åt naturen. Även om våra experter stått på olycksplatsen hade de inte kunnat förutspå jordskredet ens en timme på förhand.

Exakt vad som förorsakade raset är inte klarlagt men man utgår från att det är regnet som fått lerlagret att sättas i rörelse.

Området är extremt känsligt, och experterna har varnat för rasrisker. Skredet var inte heller det första:

– För bara en och en halv vecka sedan försvann tjugo meter väg ner i en sjö vid Landvetter norr om Göteborg ... Det enda vi kan göra nu är att vänta på att vattnet ska sjunka undan och att det blir vinter någon gång, med tjäle i jorden."

(Lena Skogberg)

"The year the world woke up"

"Not before time, the west awoke in 2006 to the vast economic, political and social implications of climate change - and twigged that it presented as many opportunities as threats to humanity."

The Guardian wraps up the year in climate change policy, research and commentary. In 2006,

• the weather wasn't as hot as 2005, but close enough: the eight hottest years ever recorded have been in the last decade
• the creator of the Gaia theory James Lovelock forecast "planetary wipeout"
• the tundra was found to be melting faster than previously thought, releasing vast amounts of methane into the atmosphere, a greenhouse gas that is 20 times as strong as carbon dioxide (much of the research on melting permafrost is done in Siberia; Russia has the largest patches of tundra)
  
• arctic sea ice was predicted to disappear by 2040
• the Gulf Stream was found to be slowing
• EU polls showed that voters consider climate change the second most important policy issue, right behind unemployment, with 93% of people wanting action taken
• the Stern Review on the economics of climate change was published
• in November 2006, the Global Carbon Project said carbon emissions continue to increase: a record 7.9bn tonnes of carbon passed into the atmosphere in 2005, compared with 6.8bn tonnes in 2000
• in one of the more tangible developments, the EU identified air traffic as a major culprit and plans to place a price on air travel carbon emissions ("the plans would add up to €8 (£5.40) to the price of a ticket for an internal EU flight and €40 for an international flight", according to the Guardian.)

"Suomalaiset vaatekauppiaat tietämättömiä alihankkijoidensa vastuullisuudesta"

HS uutisoi 13.12.06 vaatekauppiaiden yhteiskuntavastuusta.

Kansalais- ja ay-järjestöjen verkosto FinnWatch teki selvityksen suomalaisten ja ulkomaisten vaateyritysten suhtautumisesta yritysten yhteiskuntavastuuseen. Suomalaismerkkejä tai -yrityksiä oli selvityksessä mukana 13 (Stockmann, Seppälä, Moda, Halonen, Luhta, Aleksi 13, Vaatehuone, Marimekko, Nanso, Reima, Finnkarelia, Turo ja Lee Cooper/Very Nice) ja ulkomaisia merkkejä tai yrityksiä kuusi (H&M, Lindex, Vero Moda/Jack&Jones/Only, KappAhl, Dressmann ja Zara).

Selvityksen mukaan harva suomalainen vaatevalmistaja on tutustunut vastuukysymyksiin. "Vastauksista huomaa, että asia oli monille vastaajille täysin outo ja kysymyksiin vastattiin vain sinne päin", selvityksen tehnyt Outi Moilala kommentoi.

Ero ulkomaisiin yrityksiin oli huomattava. Suomalaisyrityksistä vain Stockmann ja Seppälä (sama konserni) olivat mukana yritysvetoisessa yhteiskuntavastuuryhmässä BSCI:ssa. Useimmilla ei ollut CSR-strategiaa ollenkaan. Ulkomaalaisyrityksistä taas miltei jokaisella oli käytössä jonkinlainen yhteiskuntavastuustandardi.

Miltei 30 prosenttia eli suurin osa suomalaisyritysten myymistä vaatteista valmistetaan Kiinassa, missä tekstiiliteollisuuden työntekijöiden oikeudet ovat maailman heikoimpia.

Human Rights Concerns in European Fruit Production

It is a season of giving, but what sort of conditions are being offered to farm laborers who produce the fruit that delights Europeans over the holidays? The Guardian (19 Dec 2006) explores the issue in and around the region of Calabria in the southern tip of Italy, where illegal immigrants form a major component of the agricultural workforce.

An estimated 20,000 migrant workers from the African continent have crossed the Mediterranean to work for Italian fruit and vegetable producers under conditions that the Guardian notes "would fail to meet the UN's basic standards for refugee camps." Their living conditions (no heating, no sanitation, extremely low wages, and so on) are so dire that Medecins Sans Frontiers dispatched a team to investigate the conditions in Calabria. "It may seem surprising that MSF needs to work in mainland Europe but we were shocked by the conditions of migrants here. Italy is not a victim of this migration. They are needed by the agriculture in the area which wants cheap labour to produce cheap food. This is the hypocrisy of the system," said the MSF operations coordinator, Kostas Moschochoritis.

In this separate article from the BBC, the problem of unemployment in the Calabria region is documented. While migrant laborers toil in fields and farms, the official unemployment figure for the region is approximately 15%. Migrant workers fill some of that gap, or perhaps they displace local workers? Local producers combat downward price pressure due to growing competition by employing illegal immigrants. If illegal laborers earn just €25 a day (€3 / hour) for picking Southern Italy's clementines and oranges, most of which are exported to other EU countries, it's easier to understand why production costs of the fruit remain low. The lower wage cost component derived from the use of illegal labor ensures the profitability of businesses against global competition from lower wage countries, perhaps even their survival.

Meanwhile, 94% of the workers have some kind of health problem, according to MSF. More than 30% of Calabrian migrant workers have been subjected to violence, mostly by locals.

It might be interesting to know to what extent food retailers, such as the Finnish Kesko and S groups, are aware of the abuses and what their response might be as far as procurement from the affected regions is concerned.

Free Trade for Green Goods?

Europe's trade commissioner has called for global free trade in green goods to fight climate change. Commissioner Peter Mandelson said "the best way to cut carbon emissions was by open markets for investment in environmental technology rather than punitive taxes against countries such as the United States which have refused to pledge cuts in greenhose gases under the 1997 Kyoto treaty."

"Alongside an ambitious agreement to cut tariffs in industrial goods in the Doha Round, WTO members should agree to go even further in key areas like clean power generation - defined by their specific link to climate change. It should be possible to agree a 0% tariff deal for these key goods", the trade commissioner said.

Climate Change and Recreational Activities

Helsingin Sanomat reported this morning on a new OECD study which claims that climate change is having an "enormous impact on Alpine ski resorts." The main Swiss paper NZZ reported on the same study in their international edition. Warming affects the hospitality industry in traditional snowsport countries like Austria and Switzerland, changing employment patterns and calling to question current business practices. Tourists delight in the opportunity to ski, but using artificial snow, while "cost efficient to resorts," expends much "water and energy and influence landscapes and ecology." The OECD study suggests that going forward, resorts must come up with alternative, more sustainable business ideas.

Supply chain control weak in Finnish retailer business

During the past weeks CSR got a great junk of publicity in Finland. The food retailer giant Kesko has apparently sourced textiles from a supplier in India that has been involved in child labor, human rights violations and serious environmental damage. The Finnish textile retailers were asked by Helsingin Sanomat about their supply chain control. They do as a rule not check their supplier's environmental or human rights performance at all - only Stockmann and Seppälä had hired an external auditor to keep track on social responsibility in supplier's facilities. Same problem applies to Clas Ohlson - according to SwedWatch Clas Ohlson does not have any idea in what conditions their products are produced - they say that they do often not even know where their articles are manufactured!

Talouselämä last Friday again points out customers' responsibility in ethical purchasing. We should make a statement by purchasing only ethically manufactured products. Now I am just wondering, that as long even the retailers themselves have no idea of the ethical standard of their products, how on the earth should a consumer know that this towel is manuractured by forced labor or kids in India, and the other towel is made in a responsible plant paying decent salaries somewhere else? If I had that information next to the price tag in each product, I would certainly consider it relevant for my purchase decision, and even pay a small pemium for a good consience.

CSR reports give too a nice picture of Finnish companies' responsibility

Both Helsingin Sanomat and Taloussanomat have published main articles about CSR reporting this week. The message in both is pretty similar: There is a serious lack of critisism in CSR reporting, and CSR reports are turning out to be more of a marketing tool than accounting for companies impact on sustainable development. Every company appears in their reports as incredibly responsible, attentive to any environmental or social concerns, and with full records on compliance with all kinds of laws and regulations. It is quite irritating when a report that should serve as an objective information source on a particular company's responsibility turns out to be pure greenwashing.

Milton Friedman In Memoriam and Other News

When the father of monetary economics Milton Friedman passed on a few weeks ago, opinions were heard from both sides of the fence. Some of those opinions referred to corporate social responsibility. In the Wall Street Journal, conservative business school dean Henry G. Manne argued in a half-page opinion piece that "Milton Friedman Was Right: "Corporate social responsibility" is bunk." Elsewhere, in the Ecologist blog pages, activist Paul Kingsnorth ventures to say that he wasn't sorry to see Friedman go and points out some of the less glorious moments of Friedman's otherwise glowing career. Two radically opposing views, if we ever saw any.

Perhaps exemplifying how everything seems connected in this world, free-market idealist Manne's name also shows up on the list of Exxonsecrets.org, a site on "how ExxonMobil funds the global climate change skeptics." The Law and Economics Center headed by Manne has received considerable funding from Exxon, according to this site affiliated with Greenpeace.

In other news, more environmental legal experts may be needed going forward, given the rising number of climate change related litigation. As we speak, the US supreme court is dealing with its very first climate change related lawsuit. The central issue: "Is carbon dioxide an air pollutant that the government must regulate and should the court tell the E.P.A. to reconsider its position of not regulating the emission?"

In yet other news, as a kind of follow up to Inconvenient Truth, there's a new Canadian movie out called the Great Warming. Here's the review from The New York Times which says it "should be required viewing by all." Not sure if or when the movie is going to reach the Nordic region. Here's the trailer.