Jun 2016

Indofood: PepsiCo’s hidden link to worker exploitation in Indonesia

…While the language reads strongly on respecting workers’ rights, as well as protecting High Carbon Stock Forests and peatlands, unfortunately PepsiCo’s policy contains a loophole: it does not require its joint venture partner, Indofood — one of the largest palm oil growers in the world, the biggest food company in Indonesia, and the sole maker of PepsiCo products in Indonesia — to meet the same requirements for the palm oil it uses to make PepsiCo’s products…

…In order to understand the impact of this exclusion on palm oil workers, a team of researchers investigated the living and working conditions of laborers on two palm oil plantations that are owned and operated by PepsiCo’s joint venture partner Indofood, under its subsidiary plantation company PT PP London Sumatra Tbk‘s (Lonsum), located on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia…

Indofood and PepsiCo were given the opportunity to respond to the key findings of this report prior to publication…