Feeling the squeeze
Bryony Moore discovers that in the world of squash and cordial, it’s
not just the fruit that’s being put under pressure.
Squash and cordial manufacturers are keen to sell their products to us on the
premise that they make water (which is good for you) taste better. That may
be true, but the things that go into your average squash aren’t quite so
tasty...
Fruit
In researching this buyer’s guide Ethical Consumer couldn’t find
a single Fairtrade fruit squash or cordial. Fruit plantations in most countries,
including Britain, make use of low-wage, casual labour. As a result, fruit farm
workers across the globe face unplanned overtime, often arriving at work in
the morning not knowing when they will be allowed to leave, or whether they
will have any work the following day.
According to Oxfam, commonly hired on short-term contracts – or with no
contract at all – women are working at high speed for low wages in unhealthy
conditions. They are forced to put in long hours to earn enough to get by. Most
have no sick leave or maternity leave, few are enrolled in health or unemployment
schemes, and fewer still have savings for the future. Instead of supporting
long-term development, trade is reinforcing insecurity and vulnerability for
millions of women workers.(1)
There have been many stories in the media recently about the poor working conditions
and pay faced by fruit pickers. Oxfam published a report in 2004 called ‘Trading
Away our Rights’ in which they spoke with Chilean fruit pickers, who stated
that 75 per cent of women in the agricultural sector in Chile are hired on temporary
contracts picking fruit and put in more than 60 hours a week during the season.
But one in three still earns below the minimum wage.(1)
“An agricultural labourer doesn’t take holidays, because she would
be fired immediately, and would have to go elsewhere, and would have no way
of buying food to eat. The situation is very difficult. One sees lots of injustice,
all over the country…I feel like I have lost out…We are all losing
out, we don’t have transparency from the government. If things don’t
change, all that remains for us workers is to be exploited while others skim
off the cream.”(2)
In December last year Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported
that it was providing relief for seasonal citrus fruit pickers in southern Italy
after discovering their appalling living and working conditions. More than 2000
pickers were being housed in abandoned factories without any basic hygienic
facilities. In areas of the Calabria province, MSF found at least 1500 migrant
workers in extremely hazardous conditions. According to MSF, being exploited
for labour with scarce healthcare, completely inadequate lodging and episodes
of violence characterize the everyday reality of the migrant workers in these
areas.(3)
The Independent and many other newspapers reported on an incident in which
three Florida fruit pickers escaped their employer after a year of being locked
up at night to prevent their escape, as well as being forced into debt by being
made to pay for sub-standard food and to use meagre washing facilities ($5 for
a shower with a garden hose or a bucket).(4)
Tesco fruit picker Gertruida Baartman came to the attention of the press in
2007 when she exposed the poor treatment of Tesco’s fruit pickers in South
Africa. She attended the company’s Annual General Meeting to demand that
something be done about workers who were being paid a wage below that necessary
to maintain even a basic standard of living. As a result of attending the meetings,
some things at her farm changed. In the past, fruit pickers were forced back
into the orchards immediately after the crops had been sprayed with pesticides,
meaning that workers were often handling fruit that was still wet with dangerous
chemicals. But Gertruida said that, “On our farm things did change but
all the other farms basically remain the same. It changed on my farm because
the spotlight and the media have been on me.”(5)
Supermarkets, with the notable exception of the Co-op, don’t disclose
the suppliers of their own-brand products.
Sugar
The main ingredient in most cordial is sugar. There are many issues surrounding
the use of sugar, which were covered in detail in our
buyer’s guide to sugar in issue 117 (March/April). The guide includes
a discussion about whether we should buy sugar which comes from cane or beet,
about the environmental impacts of crops and production processes and last but
not least, the health implications of this highly addictive substance, including
diabetes, heart disease, obesity, hyperactivity in children and dental decay.(7)
Artificial additives
As if those things weren’t enough to raise concerns, some squash doesn’t
even contain fruit or sugar.
Other additives in many mainstream brands are a cause for concern, particularly
when children are the main target for such products. Some medicines containing
the same additives found in soft drinks including fruit squash, are legally
obliged to carry warnings of possible side effects, including skin allergies
and breathing problems, while soft drinks aren’t. An article in The Independent
listed Ribena as a product which included sodium benzoate (E122) and sodium
bisulphate (E222) but no warning, whereas if it were a medicine it would have
to warn that E211 can be mildly irritant to the skin, eyes and mucous membranes
and that E222 may rarely cause severe hypersensitivity reactions and difficulty
in breathing.(6)
Ethical Consumer also took a quick look at artificial sweeteners as part of
the sugar
buyer’s guide in issue 117. Aspartame and saccharin have both been
linked to health disorders, but with inconclusive evidence. However, it seems
that these products would be best avoided.(7)
Environment
Transporting fruit year-round from tropical climates, as well as packaging
it in plastic bottles often made from non-renewable fossil fuels, can all negatively
affect the environment.
Most families throw away about 40kg of plastic per year, which could otherwise
be recycled.8 Lots of companies now use at least some recycled materials in
their packaging, and those that don’t are really falling behind. Ribena
have developed a bottle made from 100% recycled plastic (although it doesn’t
say whether this will be used for its entire product range) and many of the
luxury cordial brands are packaged in bottles made with some recycled glass
content, including Rocks whose bottles are made from 70% recycled glass. These
companies have been given an extra half mark. The Co-op has a policy of not
using PVC packaging.
Alternatives
The Soil Association website provides a list of producers local to you. Also
many farmers’ markets sell cordials made with fruit produced on British
farms. Supporting organic brands also means voting against GM and buying locally-produced
cordials made from British fruit cuts down on air miles. We have included some
fruit concentrates in the table, which make an ideal healthy alternative to
squash or cordial as they contain nothing but concentrated fruit juice.
Links
Company profiles
Ribena is owned by massive pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
which routinely uses animal testing.(9) In 2007, a BBC Panorama documentary
revealed secret emails showing that GlaxoSmithKline distorted trial results
of an anti-depressant, covering up a link with suicide in teenagers. Panorama
revealed that the company attempted to show that Seroxat worked for depressed
children despite failed clinical trials. GSK told Panorama: “GSK utterly
rejects any suggestion that it has improperly withheld drug trial information.”(10)
Also in 2007, Russian prosecutors were investigating a local hospital on suspicions
it illegally tested vaccines made by GlaxoSmithKline on toddlers, making them
ill and hampering their development. [P]rosecutors [said] Glaxo paid the clinic
in southwestern Russia $50,000 to conduct the trials. GSK denied the claims
and said there was no evidence of adverse events or misconduct in the way the
study had been carried out.[P]rosecutors claimed parents were not properly informed.(11)
Coca-Cola (Schweppes) is widely criticised for its monopoly on water
resources in India and other countries.(12)
Also, findings of a study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of
Sciences, showed that there was a, “significant increase of breast and
pancreatic cancer in rats fed regular amounts of Coca-Cola”.(13) Feeling
Blue Seeing Red has called a boycott of the company for failing to actively
protect workers being persecuted for supporting the unionisation of Colombia’s
bottling plants.(14)
CFC, a lobby group for healthy food, highlighted a blatant promotion by Vimto,
makers of the purple soft drink, owned by Nichols plc, where teachers
in more than 1,000 schools were encouraged to use English lessons to promote
the drink, at one time promoted by the animated Purple Ronnie character. According
to CFC, pupils were asked to write a poem in praise of Vimto for National Poetry
Day.(15)
References
1 http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/papers/tradingaway.html
2 http://www.oxfam.org/en/campaigns/trade/real_lives/chile
3 http://www.business-humanrights.org/Links/Repository/145148
4 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/slave-labour-that-shames-america-765881.html
5 http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/jun/29/southafrica.supermarkets
6 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/food-companies-are-criticised-for-failing-to-warn-about-additives-452791.html)
7 Ethical Consumer magazine, Issue 117, (March/April 2009)
8 www.recycling-guide.org.uk/facts.html
9 GlaxoSmithKline plc Corporate Communications:www.gsk.com (20 April 2009)
10 Business & Human Rights Resource Centre:Drug company ‘hid’
suicide link (29 January 2007)
11 Business & Human Rights Resource Centre: Russia probes illegal tests
of Glaxo vaccines (2 March 2007)
12 BBC News Website www.bbc.co.uk:Coke told to close Indian plant (19 August
2005)
13 Ecologist, The:Issue 1 Volume 37 (February 2007)
14 Feeling Blue Seeing Red:Boycotts (7 May 2009)
15 Guardian, The:Drinks companies criticised over in-school adverts (28 December
2008)