Italy: Coop targets 'fruit and vegetable mafia'

The Italian retailer Coop will invest €1 million in targeted checks of its suppliers and good manage…

The Italian retailer Coop will invest €1 million in targeted checks of its suppliers and good management practices, which are part of measures to eradicate what it calls the “fruit and vegetable mafia”.

The Buoni e Giusti Coop project will involve the retailer working with 832 of its fruit and vegetable suppliers. It will closely examine the 13 sectors in which cases of worker exploitation, illegal employment practices, and food scams are most frequently reported.

Marco Pedroni commented that if no action is taken against unethical practices in the supply chain, the search for the lowest price will end up “clashing with human rights”.

He pointed out that illegal activities currently affect 400,000 workers, of which 80 per cent are migrants.

According to Coop, its private label products (around 4,000) are already strictly controlled to prevent fraud and counterfeiting.

The retailer guarantees that these products, which account for 27 per cent of total sales, are overseen from production to the distribution phase.