Haribo, Maker Of The World's Best Gummy Bears, Faces Slave Labor Accusation

Haribo, maker of the world's best gummy bears*, is facing allegations of slave labor and animal cruelty, making me wonder if nothing is sacred anymore. 

A German broadcaster did an investigative report on Haribo (which is based in Bonn, Germany) and found some pretty disturbing stuff. 

 ...the company’s production of carnauba wax and animal gelatin in Brazil occurred in horrible conditions.

The carnauba wax makes Haribo’s gummies glossy and is extracted from carnauba wax trees. But the filmmakers report that people who cut down these tree branches work on plantations in Brazil where they earn just $12 a day. The workers, some of whom are underage, also reportedly have little to no access to toilets, have to drink unfiltered water from nearby rivers, and sleep inside or in trucks.

The documentary also uncovered cruel conditions for the pigs from which Haribo’s gelatin is produced. The documentary reportedly showed footage from the farms that provide pig skin for Haribo’s gelatin supplier Gelita. Munchies reports that “these pigs, as the documentary shows, are caked in their own feces and roam around their pens with open and unattended sores, sometimes amongst the rotting corpses of their own.”

Yeah... that's all pretty horrific and is really making me not want to eat Haribos anymore.

Haribo made a statement to Vice's Munchies saying "we are extremely concerned by some of the images shown on the consumer program broadcast on German TV channel ARD last week. The conditions on the pig farms and the Brazilian plantations shown are insupportable.” So, basically, they're working on it.

*I decided they make the best gummies, because clearly they do.