Supermarket Giant Ends Business with Meat Firms Involved in Slavery

Global supermarket chain Carrefour and Grupo Pão de Açucar (GPA) in Brazil have cut ties with firms associated with blacklisted farmers, following their pledge to keep their supply chains free of slave labor.

The French multinational corporation and Brazil’s own GPA worked with three meat packers in the past two years that purchased from farms involved in slave labor – forcing dozens into working against their will – and that are part of the Brazilian government’s blacklist of 180 companies.

“After an internal investigation and explanations given by the supplier [we] decided to suspend the buying of products,” said Carrefour Brasil Group to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The government’s blacklist is used to tackle slavery by prohibiting businesses involved in forced labor from receiving loans from state banks.