Darigold responds to migrant child labour allegations within US supply chains
See a full response from Darigold in attached PDF document.
We were surprised and troubled to learn of allegations of child migrant labor on any Northwest Dairy Association (NDA) member farms. NDA members have all agreed to adhere to a set of Standards and Guiding Principles for the operation of their farms, and the violations alleged in a recent New York Times article are in no way consistent with those Standards and Guiding Principles.
It is important to note that neither Darigold nor NDA own or operate any farms. NDA is a farmer-owned cooperative that owns and supplies milk to Darigold, which is the marketing and processing arm of NDA. Darigold and NDA are, and will continue to comply with all federal, state, and local laws and regulations, including but not limited to those related to child labor.
As part of our effort to ensure compliance with our Standards and Guiding Principles, NDA engages an expert third-party APSCA certified labor audit firm to conduct on-farm labor audits in a way that is consistent with the best practices across the dairy industry. To date, we have seen no evidence in those audits to support the allegations surfaced in the New York Times reporting. ...
