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Article

12 Feb 2018

Author:
Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP

Massachusetts Consumers Sue Nestle for Allegedly Using Child and Slave Labor to Make Chocolate

Consumers from Massachusetts today filed a class-action lawsuit against Nestle for allegedly regularly importing cocoa beans from suppliers in the Ivory Coast using the worst forms of child labor as recognized by the UN, including dangerous child labor and the slave labor of trafficked children...

...The law firm says most consumers would be shocked to learn the truth of the source of their favorite candies named in the lawsuit. Much of the chocolate candy produced by Nestle is affected, including Nestle Crunch®, BabyRuth®, Butterfinger® and 100 Grand® among others.

...The lawsuit filed on Feb. 12, 2018, in Massachusetts federal court, states that in violation of Massachusetts law, Nestle does not disclose that its suppliers in the Ivory Coast rely on child laborers and instead continues to profit from the child labor that supplies the chocolate sold to American consumers. Most of these child laborers engage in dangerous work, and some are even subject to conditions of modern-day slavery.

...According to the World Cocoa Foundation, 47 percent of the total U.S. imports of cocoa beans come from the Ivory Coast.

[More information and complaint here]