The Exclusive Poultry, and "front companies" set up by its owner - Meza Poultry, Valtierra Poultry, Sullon Poultry and Nollus's Poultry - reportedly employed migrant children in two of its poultry plants where they were required to operate dangerous and heavy machinery illegally. The workers were primarily from Indigenous communities in Guatemala and instead of going to school worked so many hours alongside adults they were owed overtime pay.

When investigators came to inspect the plant, operators of a Southern California plant allegedly hid child workers in bathrooms and closets. Afterwards, the company owner "corralled" workers and told them they should leave if they did not like how they were paid.

According to labour investigators, chicken processed by The Exclusive Poultry was sold from the shelves of supermarkets who bought it from distributors who used the companies. Grocery Outlet, Aldi and Sysco all told the LA Times they did not use The Exclusive Poultry as a supplier which was criticised as "fudging it" by Department of Labor attorney Nisha Parekh.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited retailers Grocery Outlet, Aldi, Sysco and Kroger (which owns brand Ralphs) to respond to allegations of child labour in their supply chains and to disclose any efforts to remedy the abuse as well as due diligence steps undertaken to detect issues in the future. Kroger and Grocery Outlet's responses can be read below; Aldi and Sysco did not respond.