A report by Corporate Accountability Lab, published in October 2023, examined conditions on farms in the San Quintin region of Mexico supplying major US companies: Driscoll's, Andrews and Williamson (under the Good Farms and Heritage brands), Costco and Whole Foods. The report - based on more than 200 interviews with workers between 2016 and 2023 - alleges that indicators of forced labour, including deceptive recruitment practices, withholding of documents and pay, and poor working and living conditions were identified on the farms. It also alleges widespread freedom of association violations across the farms, including the use of employer-controlled "yellow" unions. A key contention of the report is that these abuses happened on farms certified by Fair Trade USA and the Equitable Food Initiative, with the auditing process conducted by SCS Global Services on their behalf deemed inadequate by the report's authors.

In February 2023, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre sought a response from the US food companies and retailers named in the report, as well as the two certification programmes, and the auditing firm. The questions posed to each are outlined below. Whole Foods, Driscoll's, Fair Trade USA and the Equitable Food Initiative responded to the allegations. SCS Global Services and Costco did not.

Fair Trade USA in its response disputes the report's methodology. It also states that three of the four production sites it is linked to in the report no longer hold Fair Trade certification, and outlines that it undertook an investigative audit in response to the allegations when they were first raised (prior to the publication of the report) which did not reveal abuses. Full response included below.

Equitable Food Initiative also said that it had conducted investigation at both of the certified sites, and was unable to substantiate the allegations made in the report, concluding it has no basis for revoking the certification status of the two farms. Full response included below.

Driscoll's stated that it terminated its contract with the supplier in question in 2021, and conducted an independent investigation which did not substantiate the allegations in the report. It highlights that the report is not peer-reviewed. (Some of the report's findings were included in two peer-reviewed journals: Frontera Norte and Mexican Studies / Estudios Mexicanos.) Full response included below.

Whole Foods provided a short response saying it took the allegations seriously and is actively investigating with its suppliers and the certification programs named in the report. Full response included below.

Request to retailers (Whole Foods and Costco)

1. Respond to the alleged rights abuses, including freedom of association violations, wage theft, and harassment at the named suppliers
2. Outline what steps your company intends to take – both in response to the alleged abuses themselves, and the report’s findings that Fair Trade USA and EFI are failing to ensure the protection of workers’ rights at its certificate holders? Please include details about any investigation of the allegations or remediation of affected workers.
3. Disclose any human rights due diligence your company undertakes prior to entering into contracts with suppliers and when monitoring working conditions along the supply chain

Request to food distributors (Driscoll's and Andrew and Williamson)

1. Respond to the reported allegations of rights abuses, including freedom of association violations, wage theft, and harassment at the named suppliers, and outline what steps your company intends to take, including details about any investigation of the allegations or remediation of affected workers
2. Respond to the report’s finding that alleged rights abuses are occurring on a farm certified by Fair Trade USA – indicating that this certification standard alone is not enough to ensure protection of rights in your company's supply chain
3. Disclose what human rights due diligence your company undertakes prior to entering into contracts with suppliers and when monitoring working conditions at suppliers.

Request to certification organisations (Fair Trade USA and Ethical Food Initiative)

1. Respond to the reported allegations of rights abuses and violations of your standard at certified farms, including freedom of association violations, wage theft, and harassment
2. Outline any steps taken to investigate the alleged breaches of the certification standard and what steps you have taken or intend to take in relation to the certificate holders in question
3. Outline the steps you intend to take based on the allegation that audits against your standard are failing to detect the above-mentioned issues
4. Outline the steps you take to ensure workers at certified farms are aware of the standard and understand how to raise concerns when its terms are violated
5. Disclose the summary audit findings for Rancho Agrícola Santa Mónica for the period 2019-2023 along with information about any corrective action plans issued during that period

Request to auditing firm (SCS Global Services)

1. Respond to the report’s allegations of serious rights violations, as well as violations of EFI and FTUSA standards, which were not detected during the auditing process, as well as how you will address this moving forward
2. Respond to the report’s allegations of flaws in the audit process including the presence of management in focus group discussions with workers and potential distortion of the audit results through pre-audit coaching by management
3. Describe the steps SCS Global takes to ensure auditing methodologies used are aligned with industry best practice
4. Disclose the summary audit findings for Rancho Agrícola Santa Mónica and Rancho Nuevo Produce for the period 2019-2023