Nestle USA has been hit with a fresh class action lawsuit in America, for allegedly failing to disclose that their chocolate brands may use cocoa that was sourced from unlawful child or slave labour.
Nestle have dismissed it and claimed that the lawsuit is a “carbon copy” of an earlier dismissed court filing that occurred in California, while the company also said they are fully committed to abolishing forced child labour in its supply chain.
The global giant also said that class actions aren’t the way to fix what they deem to be such a complex issue.
Danell Tomasella, a consumer, brought the suit into a US district court in Massachusetts on the 12th February.
The suit alleges that Nestle USA have deceived their customers by not adequately informing them that brands such as Butterfingers and Crunch may potentially contain cocoa that was sourced by slave or child labour.
Hagen Berman, a law firm, failed in similar class lawsuits in California against Nestle USA, Hershey and Mars back in 2016, is representing Tomasella for this case.
The lawsuit says: “That the Worst Forms of Child Labor are in Nestlé’s supply chain for its chocolate products is material to consumers not wishing to support such labor with their purchasing power.
“In the course of marketing and selling its chocolate products, however, Nestlé materially omits and does not disclose that its chocolate products have child and slave labor in the supply chain.”
The lawsuit further alleges that Nestle haven’t required their suppliers to remedy the practice, despite being fully aware that slave and child labour exists within their supply chain.
