Fancy Feast

By: Brett Murray

Fancy Feast Cat Food • Fish provided by Thai Union Frozen Products

• Ship 28 million pounds of seafood-based pet food annually

• Allegedly rely on salves and forced labor to catch fish which is then processed into pet food

Human Trafficking • Men and boys are trafficked from Cambodia who believe

they are finding employment but instead sold as slaves to fishing captains in Thailand– Required to work to pay off their own cost – Work as long as 20 hour days with little to no pay – Refusing to work leads to beatings or even death

In 2001, Nestle was under fire for using child slave-labor practices on farms in West Africa to harvest cocoa for their Chocolate– They pledged to investigate and put an end to their slave-labor

practices

Class-action lawsuit

• Pet food purchasers filled lawsuit saying they would not have purchased the product if they had known what activities went into making it.

• Nestle claims it has mandatory guidelines for suppliers – Requiring “respecting human rights and complying

with all applicable labor laws”• “Millions of people tricked into supporting and

encouraging slave labor on floating prisons”

Ethical Questions • Is it right for large companies like nestle to buy products

from distributers knowing that they are violating human rights?

• Would their Fancy Feast sales significantly drop if U.S. consumers knew how they were acquiring their product?

• Would the actions of Thai Union Frozen Products actions be justified if they were paying their fishermen a fair rate?

• Should companies implement more strict guidelines before purchasing from such distributors?

Sources

• Forbes.com• http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

15-08-27/nestle-accused-of-putting-fish-from-slave-labor-in-cat-food