Ahold Delhaize and Hannaford addressed Migrant Justice’s allegations in our previous responses. While there is no new or additional information or allegations in their rejoinder, we do want to reiterate a few important things:

• Ahold Delhaize and Hannaford recognize that migrant workers are vulnerable throughout supply chains worldwide, particularly in agriculture, and take reports of abuse such as these very seriously.
• Whenever there are allegations or reports of non-compliance with Ahold Delhaize’s Standards of Engagement, the Ahold Delhaize brands follow up on those. That is why Hannaford has been, and continues to be, engaged in a thorough due diligence review across its dairy supply chain.
• In response to the complaints reported through Hannaford’s Speak Up Line, which is staffed by an independent third-party to assure anonymous and confidential reporting, Hannaford required its private brand supplier to investigate each complaint, including through farm visits in some cases. Hannaford’s supplier has reported that they have not been able to substantiate the complaints.
• The majority (60%) of the complaints filed were either not specific to a particular farm or concerned an incident or conditions on farms outside of Hannaford’s private brand dairy supply chain and several complaints were filed months, sometimes almost a year, after the alleged incidents or conditions occurred.
• The concerns and issues facing agricultural workers in the dairy supply chain are systemic, complex and extend well beyond Hannaford’s private label dairy supply chain located solely in the state of Vermont. Solutions require a scalable, collaborative approach that brings together all relevant stakeholders. That is why Hannaford is working with industry organizations and its direct suppliers, the dairy cooperatives, farmers and farm workers making up this supply chain, to ensure the human rights integrity of its supply chain and the respect and fair treatment of farm workers within it.

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