"Farmer says he kept ‘Starbucks seal’ even after slave labor case", 27 october 2025

...AT FAZENDA FLORESTA, in Heliodora, southern Minas Gerais, 20 workers were rescued from conditions analogous to slavery in August 2021. New evidence obtained by Repórter Brasil indicates, however, that even after the slave-labor case, the property remained certified by C.A.F.E. Practices, the Starbucks coffee chain’s program for verifying good practices.

This is the first time evidence has come to light that Starbucks’ seal was maintained for a Brazilian farm after a slave-labor case...

According to the inspection report by auditors from Brazil’s Ministry of Labor and Employment (MTE), the victims at Fazenda Floresta suffered illegal deductions from their wages and slept in dormitories without ceiling lining and with gaps in the walls. One of the rooms used by the group was next to an area with open sewage, according to the same document, which deemed the conditions imposed on the workforce degrading.

Due to the case, the owner of Fazenda Floresta, producer Guilherme Sodré Alckmin Júnior, was included in April 2023 on the government’s Dirty List of employers held responsible for slave labor. Inclusion occurs only after the right to defense in two administrative instances at the MTE.

Even after his inclusion on the Dirty List, however, the property remained certified by C.A.F.E. Practices...

Questioned by Repórter Brasil about the case—and presented with documents in which the producer claimed he remained in the program even after being placed on the Dirty List—Starbucks did not comment on the specific case, limiting itself to providing generic information about its coffee-sourcing responsibility policies in Brazil. The full response from Starbucks can be read here...

The report published Monday by Repórter Brasil also highlights new slave-labor cases identified in the 2025 harvest involving farmers linked to one of Starbucks’ largest global suppliers in Brazil, Cooxupé (Regional Coffee Growers’ Cooperative of Guaxupé)...

Asked again by the reporters, Starbucks did not make specific comments regarding Cooxupé. The company said it “remains committed” to working with suppliers to advance labor practices and noted that, in Brazil, it maintains a Producer Support Center that offers training on social responsibility for coffee producers and suppliers concerning Brazilian labor law.

The company also said it continuously reviews and strengthens the C.A.F.E. Practices program and its due-diligence approach, working with organizations with “relevant expertise in remediation and implementation of recommendations, both at the supplier and farm levels.” Read Starbucks’ response in full here...