French supermarket chain taken to court
Non-profits Bloom and Foodwatch France are taking one of France’s largest supermarket chains (and the 7th largest retailer in the world) to court.
Why?
“Despite its legal obligation of vigilance, Carrefour does not prohibit destructive fishing methods in its tuna supplies, has not adopted a maximum mercury limit sufficient to protect consumer health, and is unable to demonstrate that the canned food it sells is free from human rights abuses. These are serious failings. Carrefour must act, and we are calling on the courts to force it to do so.”
As the two organisations point out, Carrefour is subject to France’s Duty of Vigilance” law. This law means that Carrefour has an obligation to prevent harm to human health, human rights, and the environment in its activities and the activities of the suppliers it uses. In this case, those suppliers are tuna fisheries.
Bloom and Foodwatch France contend that Carrefour hasn’t put in sufficient measures to ensure their canned tuna doesn’t contain high levels of mercury or warn consumers (particularly those who are pregnant or children) of the risks of consuming mercury-containing fish.
They point out that the tuna is caught by fisheries using unsustainable practices and that they could do a lot more to ensure that they are sourcing tuna from fisheries that do not use forced labour, torture, debt bondage, or practice other human rights violations that are sadly not uncommon on tuna vessels.
This isn’t the first time Carrefour’s tuna practices have been called out. Back in November 2023, Bloom served Carrefour formal notice for failing the Duty of Vigilance Law. Apparently, Carrefour made some very vague promises. In April last year, Foodwatch France joined Bloom in serving a second notice.
"Almost two years after our first alerts, Carrefour's assessment is damning: while the company has generally kept to its five commitments, it has not raised its ambitions. Only one measure taken has had a concrete, albeit limited, impact: stopping the supply of overfished tuna from the Indian Ocean, which accounts for 30% of its European supply. For the rest, the consultation of stakeholders, the publication of a charter and a report are empty shells, with no real transformative power. This falls far short of addressing all the critical issues with the tuna industry,” Bloom writes in its “Drowning the Catch” report.
➡️ Read the Bloom report “Drowning the Catch” (in partial English)
