In 2020, KnowTheChain assessed the 60 largest global food and beverage companies on their efforts to address forced labor risks in their supply chains. In addition to assessing information available on companies’ websites, KnowTheChain invited benchmarked companies over a period of three months (March-May 2020) to review the information identified, and to provide additional information.
- 57% of companies engaged during the 3 months period, by providing additional disclosure (47%) or sending links to existing disclosure (10%)
- 10% of companies engaged informally engaged with KnowTheChain (i.e., outside of the formal three-month engagement period)
- 33% of companies did not engage with KnowTheChain between July 2019 and June 2020 (beyond confirming a contact for KnowTheChain)
Please find below details on the engagement details with each company.
Company name | Headquarters | Engagement with KnowTheChain (Jul2019 – Jun2020)* |
2020 Disclosure | 2018 Disclosure | 2016 Disclosure |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aeon | Japan | Informal | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Ahold Delhaize | Netherlands | Yes | Provided additional disclosure and sent link | Responded, and provided updated response | [Not included] |
Almarai | Saudi Arabia | No | No response | No response | [Not included] |
Amazon | United States | Yes | Sent links | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Arca Continental | Mexico | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Archer-Daniels-Midland | United States | Yes | Sent link | Sent link | No response |
Associated British Foods | United Kingdom | Yes | Sent links | Responded | Sent link** |
Avenue Supermarkets | India | No | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Britannia | India | No | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
BRF | Brazil | n/a | [Not included] | No response | Provided links to report, guidelines, webpage |
Campbell Soup | United States | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Sent additional disclosure and further information | [Not included] |
Carrefour | France | No | No response | Responded | [Not included] |
Mengniu | Hong Kong | Informal | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Coca-Cola | United States | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Responded and provided additional disclosure | Responded* |
Coca-Cola European Partners | United Kingdom | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Sent additional disclosure, and further updates | [Not included] |
Coca-Cola HBC | Switzerland | Informal | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Coles | Australia | Yes | Provided additional disclosure and sent links | [Assessed as Wesfarmers including Coles] Responded, provided additional disclosure and links | [Not included] |
Colruyt Group | Belgium | No | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Conagra | United States | No | No response | No response | Provided link |
Costco | United States | Informal | No response | Sent link | [Not included] |
Danone | France | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Responded and provided additional disclosure | Responded |
FamilyMart | Japan | Yes | Sent additional disclosure and link | [Not included] | [Not included] |
FEMSA | Mexico | No | No response | No response | No response** |
Foshan Haitian Flavouring and Food | China | No | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
General Mills | United States | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Provided additional disclosure | Sent links to report, policy, statement |
Hershey’s | United States | Yes | Sent links | Responded | Responded** |
Hormel Foods | United States | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | No response | [Not included] |
Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group | China | No | No response | No response | [Not included] |
JBS | Brazil | Informal | No response | Sent link | Responded |
Kellogg | United States | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Responded and provided additional disclosure | Provided links to this webpage and this webpage |
Kerry | Ireland | Yes | Sent additional disclosure and links to statementand revised supplier code | Provided additional disclosure | [Not included] |
Keurig Dr Pepper | United States | Yes | Sent link | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Kraft Heinz | United States | No | No response | Sent additional disclosure | Submittedstatement** |
Kroger | United States | Yes | Sent links to report (pp. 146-148 and 150) and commitment |
Responded and provided links (2016 report, 2017 report, statement) | [Not included] |
Lamb Weston | United States | Informal | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Loblaw | Canada | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Responded and provided additional disclosure | [Not included] |
Lindt | Switzerland | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Responded | [Not included] |
McCormick | United States | No | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Mead Johnson, now Reckitt Benckiser | United States | n/a | [Not included] | [Not included] | Responded |
Meiji Holdings | Japan | Yes | Provided additional disclosure** and sent links to | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Mondelez | United States | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Responded and provided additional disclosure | Responded** |
Monster Beverage | United States | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Provided additional disclosure | No response |
Mowi | Norway | Informal | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Nestlé | Switzerland | Yes | Sent additional disclosure and links (1, 2, 3) | Responded | Responded** |
PepsiCo | United States | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Provided additional disclosure | Sent link** |
San Miguel Food and Beverage | Philippines | No | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Saputo | Canada | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Seven & i | Japan | Yes | Provided additional disclosure, additional information and link* | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Sun Art Retail | Hong Kong | No | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Smucker’s | United States | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Responded and provided additional disclosureand links | [Not included] |
Suntory | Japan | No | No response | Responded and provided additional disclosure | [Not included] |
Tesco | United Kingdom | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Responded and provided additional disclosure | [Not included] |
Tyson Foods | United States | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Provided additional disclosure | No response |
Unilever | United Kingdom | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Responded and provided additional disclosure | Responded |
Vietnam Dairy Products | Vietnam | No | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Walmart | United States | No | No response | Responded and sent link** | [Not included] |
Want Want China | China | No | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
WH Group | Hong Kong | No | No response | No response | [Not included] |
Wilmar | Singapore | Yes | Provided additional disclosure and further information | Responded and provided additional disclosure, and further information | Responded** |
Woolworths | Australia | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | Responded and provided additional disclosure | [Not included] |
Yakult | Japan | Yes | Provided additional disclosure | [Not included] | [Not included] |
Yonghui Superstores | China | No | No response | [Not included] | [Not included] |
*KnowTheChain assesses engagement levels similarly to the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark:
- “Yes” indicates that a company participated in the research process by having an engagement call with KnowTheChain or submitted links or additional disclosure to KnowTheChain during the three-month engagement period (March to May 2020).
- “Informal” engagement means a company had some form of contact with KnowTheChain between July 2019 and June 2020. This could include an email enquiring about KnowTheChain or its benchmarking methodology or a call outside the engagement period.
- “No” means a company did not interact with KnowTheChain between July 2019 and June 2020.
** Note the 2020 benchmark includes information published as of February 2020, or through May 2020 where companies provided additional disclosure or links. Some companies have since published relevant information. For example:
- Meiji – Supplier Code of Conduct (Aug 2020) and ESG data (Aug 2020)
Company engagement process for the 2018 and 2016 benchmarks
- 2018: To reduce the reporting burden for companies, ahead of the 2018 benchmarks, we asked companies to respond to 2-3 questions to point us in the direction of relevant disclosure. Further, we provided companies an opportunity to review the initial research findings, and to provide additional disclosure for indicators where disclosure was missing.
- 2016: Ahead of benchmark publication, we had invited companies to response to a set of engagement questions that correspond to the benchmark methodology.
Information made available by benchmarked companies outside the 2018 and 2016 disclosure periods is available here.