NZ's largest supermarket chain pulls Top Glove products from shelves
New Zealand's Foodstuffs supermarket chain has pulled Top Glove's disposable gloves off its shelves while it investigates whether they might have been made using forced labour conditions.
This follows a US ban earlier this month on imports of gloves from the world's biggest medical glove manufacturer...
New Zealand's Foodstuffs supermarket chain has pulled Top Glove's disposable gloves off its shelves while it investigates whether they might have been made using forced labour conditions.
This follows a US ban earlier this month on imports of gloves from the world's biggest medical glove manufacturer.
“Top Glove products will remain off our shelves until we are satisfied ethical standards have been met," said Foodstuff’s head of corporate affairs and CSR Antoinette Laird, according to a report by New Zealand website Newsroom.
“On investigation, one local supplier of disposable gloves has been found to import from Top Glove. Where this brand of the disposable glove was stocked for retail sale in our stores, it has now been removed from the shelf.
"Where this brand was being used for the preparation of food in our stores, they are being replaced with an alternative brand," said Laird.
New Zealand’s biggest supermarket chain is looking at whether disposable rubber gloves imported by Wellington-based importer/wholesaler supplier Protec and bought by Foodstuffs could have come from factories owned by Top Glove.
Top Glove is a Malaysian rubber glove manufacturing company that owns and operates 45 manufacturing facilities in Malaysia, Thailand and China.
It has enjoyed a significant increase in profits due to surging orders for protective gear from around the world in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Malaysiakini is attempting to contact Top Glove and the human resources minister for a response to this latest development.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had earlier this month enforced a detention order on Top Glove Corp Bhd subsidiaries in a move intended to halt the importation of goods from companies suspected of using forced labour.
According to Reuters, the CBP website showed Top Glove Sdn Bhd and TG Medical Sdn Bhd were placed on its list but there was no statement explaining the action.
Since May, Malaysiakini had also exposed alleged attempts by Top Glove to unethically skirt around labour laws, including for its scheme launched to back surging demands for rubber gloves amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
The US CPB had in October last year banned the import of rubber gloves produced by another Malaysian producer - WRP Asia - over similar concerns surrounding the management of its foreign workers.
The ban was lifted in March amid a shortage due to Covid-19 and it was reported earlier this month that the glove maker had begun reimbursing workers for their recruitment fees.
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