NEW Zealand’s largest supermarket chain, Foodstuffs, has stopped selling disposable gloves made by Top Glove Corp Bhd, according to news portal Newsroom.
This, said Newsroom, was due to investigations on whether Top Glove had been producing its products under “slave-like working conditions.”
Foodstuffs was also checking whether the gloves were being worn in-store by its staff after allegations of migrant labour abuse at two Top Glove factories in Malaysia.
These checks come following a US ban on imports by Top Glove, the world’s largest glovemaker.
“Top Glove products will remain off our shelves until we are satisfied ethical standards have been met,” Foodstuffs’ head of corporate affairs and CSR Antoinette Laird was quoted as saying by Newsroom, a New Zealand website.
“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.
Foodstuffs had been investigating 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 has been a stock market darling on the Bursa Malaysia due to a surge in orders for protective gear from around the world in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Malaysian Human Resources Ministry recently cleared Top Glove of forced labour allegations but fined the company RM1,000 for breaching movement control order rules.
Top Glove also said it was appealing the US ban.
At the time of writing, Top Glove’s shares trended 2.12% lower at RM25.84, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM69.82 bil. – July 29, 2020
