Food manufacturer that employed modern slavery victims supplied several UK retailers

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Nine victims were made to work for a company that was primarily involved in manufacturing pitta bread. Credit: Getty / a_namenko

Modern slavery victims were forced to work for a bread manufacturer which supplied products to major UK supermarkets.

Nine victims were made to work for a company that traded under the names Arnaouti Pitta Bread Bakery and Michael's Pitta Bread.

The business operated two sites in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, and Tottenham, North London, which it used to manufacture private label pitta bread and other baked products.

According to the BBC, the firm had in the past supplied products to Asda, Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

The victims were exploited over a period of more than four years before police were informed in 2019.

After the legal process was delayed due to the Covid pandemic, six members of a family-run human trafficking network from Czechia were finally convicted during two criminal trials which took place at the end of 2023.

With reporting restrictions now lifted, it has been revealed that the gang forced a total of 16 people to work at either the bakery firm or a branch of McDonald’s in Cambridgeshire.

BRC statement

In response, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) issued a statement on the behalf of its members named in the BBC report.

“Protecting the welfare of people and communities working in the retail industry is of the upmost importance to all of our members,” said Sophie De Salis, human rights lead at the BRC.

“Modern slavery can occur in every country, industry and sector, often hidden from view and fuelled by systemic issues, meaning it is extremely challenging for businesses and governments to combat it.

“When retailers are made aware of any practices that fall short of the high standards expected, they thoroughly investigate and take swift action. Nonetheless, it is important that the retail industry learns from cases like this to continually strengthen due diligence.”

Retailers respond

A Co-op spokesperson told Food Manufacture: “We are committed to protecting the welfare and safety of the people in our supply chain and we actively work to tackle the shocking issue of modern slavery both in the UK and abroad, publicly reporting all findings every year.”

"We take modern slavery very seriously," added a Waitrose spokesperson. "We stopped working with Michael's Pitta three years ago after our audits raised concerns about factory standards and conditions."

A Tesco spokesperson also provided comment: “We are committed to respecting the human rights, fair working conditions and welfare of workers in our supply chain. We expect our suppliers to do the same and take action where our high standards are not met. As part of our due diligence process, an independent audit in August 2020 revealed concerning working practices and poor technical standards at this site. Anti-slavery charity Unseen, with whom we partner on due diligence, highlighted similar concerns and supported our own investigation. Following this, we ceased all orders from the supplier with immediate effect in 2020.”

Food Manufacture has also reached out to the other retailers named by the BBC.

In other news, Sophie Tuson and Eve Matthews from law firm RPC break down the potential impact of the EU's new flagship supply chain law – the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.