Watch Out For:

Forced and child labour are common in the fishing industry: on boats, in fish farms and in fish processing facilities. These practises are most commonly associated with Thailand but occur throughout East and South-East Asia; slavery has also been reported on fishing boats in New Zealand waters. To see what forced labour in the fishing industry can look like, watch Aung Ye Tung tell his story of being enslaved on a Thai squid boat.

How To Know:

There are no certifications to tell you these things haven’t occurred: you have to ask companies what happens throughout their supply chain instead. For farmed fish and prawns this includes asking how feed species were caught.

Good Options:

Your pets might be eating more fish than you! Fish is common in pet food even if it’s not in the product name - check the ingredients. Download summary pdf of good brands; read detailed research notes.

Download an overview pdf of good brands of fish for human consumption.

Tinned tuna, sardines and mackerel: download summary pdf; checkout out our buying guide or detailed research notes.

Salmon (all forms - tinned and fresh): download summary pdf; checkout out our buying guide or detailed research notes.

Shellfish and crustaceans (shrimp/prawns etc): download summary pdf; checkout out our buying guide or detailed research notes.

Fish oil and omega 3 supplements: download summary pdf; read detailed research notes.

From partly-published research (see tuna and salmon research above) we are confident the entire Sealord range is slave free. Sealord produce plain and flavoured tuna and salmon in both tins and pockets; they also produce mussels, tuna-based ready-meals and frozen fish products.

We continue to research further sectors of the NZ fish market.

Watch Out For:

Child and forced labour are both common on cocoa farms, especially in the Ivory Coast and Ghana. To learn more, watch Kojo Mensah talk about the work his children used to do on his farm in Ghana.

How To Know:

Always look for certifications to be sure your cocoa is slave free.

Not all certifications are reliable. We trust Rainforest Alliance, Fairtrade and WFTO. We have also found no evidence of slavery or child labour ever being practised on Samoan cocoa farms: we trust Samoan grown cocoa to be slave free.

If you want to buy an uncertified product or one with a different certification, read this first so you know how to check it’s slave free.

Good Options:

There are a wide range of products available with our trusted certifications: as well as chocolate you'll find ice cream, baking ingredients and even toiletries. Download either a one page guide or the full list; or read online.

Watch Out For:

Forced labour occurs on sugar farms in many countries; it is especially common in Brazil. This is fuelled in part by some wealthy sugar-growing countries (e.g. USA) subsidising their local industries, which pushes prices down internationally. To avoid supporting slavery, both subsidised and slave-grown sugar should be avoided.

How To Know:

We trust Bonsucro, WFTO and Fairtrade certifications, as well as Australian grown sugar. Read more about why here.

Good Options:

Countdown own brand sugar has Bonsucro certification: they do white, brown, caster and icing sugar.

Trade Aid sugar has WFTO certification: they do muscovado, golden granulated and organic cane sugar.

Sugary products with Fairtrade certification include: Karma Cola soft drinks, The Goodness dessert and coffee syrups, Nice Blocks ice blocks and Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

Sugary products made with Australian-grown sugar include: Bundaberg ginger beer, Arnotts biscuits, the Coca-Cola drinks range and Countdown own brand jelly crystals and sweetened condensed milk.

Download a summary pdf; or read online. .