Starbucks sued by US consumer group over ethical sourcing claims

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Starbucks is being sued by a consumer group in the US which alleges that the company’s claims its coffee is ethically sourced are false and misleading.

The National Consumers League cited media reports of human rights and labour abuses on farms in Guatemala, Kenya and Brazil that supply coffee and tea to Starbucks. 

The group said the cases cast doubt on Starbucks’ packaging, which states that the company is “committed to 100 per cent ethical coffee sourcing”.

“On every bag of coffee and box of K-cups sitting on grocery store shelves, Starbucks is telling consumers a lie,” Sally Greenberg, chief executive officer of the National Consumers League said. 

“The facts are clear: there are significant human rights and labour abuses across Starbucks’ supply chain, and consumers have a right to know exactly what they’re paying for.”

Starbucks said on Wednesday that it was aware of the lawsuit and will “aggressively defend against the asserted claims.” The lawsuit was filed in Superior Court in the District of Columbia in the US. 

Reports of human rights and labour abuses

Among the incidents cited in the lawsuit was a 2022 case in which police rescued 17 workers – including three teenagers – from a coffee farm in Brazil. They were made to work outdoors without protective equipment and lift 130-pound (59 kg) sacks of coffee. 

The case was covered by Repórter Brasil, a group of journalists that investigates workers’ rights and environmental issues.

Starbucks said Wednesday it had no information about that case.

“We take allegations like these extremely seriously and are actively engaged with farms to ensure they adhere to our standards,” the company said.

The lawsuit also cites a 2023 report by the BBC exposing rampant sexual abuse and gruelling working conditions on the James Finlay tea plantation in Kenya. James Finlay was a supplier to Starbucks at the time, but Starbucks said Wednesday it no longer buys tea from that plantation.

Lawsuit claims Starbucks is misleading consumers

Starbucks buys around 3 per cent of the world’s coffee. The company says it works with 400,000 farmers in more than 30 countries.

Starbucks developed ethical sourcing guidelines in 2004 and uses third parties to verify conditions at its suppliers. The company says it has zero tolerance for child labour and requires farmers to provide a safe, fair and humane working environment.

But the National Consumers League said Starbucks is misleading consumers by failing to disclose that its certification program doesn’t guarantee ethical sourcing.

The group is asking the court to stop Starbucks from engaging in deceptive advertising and require it to run a corrective ad campaign.

“Starbucks’ failure to adopt meaningful reforms to its coffee and tea sourcing practices in the face of these critiques and documented labour abuses on its source farms is wholly inconsistent with a reasonable consumer’s understanding of what it means to be ‘committed to 100 per cent ethical’ sourcing,'” the group said in its court filing.