Food and beverage companies are having problems determining the use of forced labor in their supply chain for cane sugar.
This was reinforced by a study released last year from KnowTheChain (KTC), a partnership founded by Humanity United, which found that most food and beverage companies fall short in their efforts to solve the problem.
In an effort to help solve this problem, Coca-Cola Co and the U.S. State Department along with two other companies recently announced that they are launching a project using blockchain’s digital ledger technology to create a secure registry for workers that will help fight the use of forced labor worldwide.
The new venture is intended to create a secure registry for workers and their contracts using blockchain’s validation and digital notary capabilities, said Blockchain Trust Accelerator, a non-profit organization involved in the project.
As reported by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss on Reuters on March 16, the KTC study said Coca-Cola has committed to conduct 28 country-level studies on child labor, forced labor, and land rights for its sugar supply chains by 2020.