Supermarket Secrets: Are They Lying About Our Food? Food Fraud Investigation Documentary

foreign a ruthless War I better just War a war to save us we the consumers the victims of the crisis the price War a struggle without Mercy where the symbols of One supermarket chain Crusade for cheaper prices we keep the expenses down at International we're United against high prices the Leclair tanks attacked Carrefour who blow up casino and force the brave Soldiers off the discount to their knees you know how much cheaper Light fresh cream is at LeClaire than at little or Ed for example the lower the price the greater the victory if you consider the slogans that are used in the commercials you might think the conflict revolves around a new philosophy of life live better spend less you heard right live better spent less lower prices and more Trust trust that's a powerful word trust him what actually oh yeah the quality of their products respect for the environment of the people all supermarkets have their virtues [Music] thank you so follow us don't be scared the consumerist miracle is just as unlikely as this food has come from the four corners of the world a globalized dish it's the famous Christmas tomato the strawberry you can buy in January the Spanish cucumber and Scottish salmon from Chile not expensive but cheaper and responsible everyone comes here really more now on the scandal of frozen food meals containing horse meat you remember surely findus spanguero picar Romania horse meat and the lasagna you might have already forgotten that news but it got to the heart of the matter it's a Dutch broker based in Cyprus who negotiated the purchase of horse meat from a Romanian slaughterhouse price warts the traders that buy and sell meat petrol will gas food has become a speculative commodity It's the final stage where prices can be squeezed eat beef and if it's horse well that's fine Society in fact considers it has a right to cheap food at low prices and from that point it's the workforce that becomes the adjustment variable so you need a Workforce that can be exploited at will it's the workforce that pays for the low prices the men and women you don't see the people in Europe and elsewhere that feed us who do they belong to those hands that gather pick and dispatch those hands must have a face the face of modern slavery and human exploitation behind the main fruits and vegetables we consume every day in all seasons tomatoes for example you buy them fresh in meat sauces in ready-made meals as a juice concentrated conserved in tins such as whole peeled tomatoes branded or shangh kafur or sometimes labeled simply Tomatoes seventy percent of cheap tinned Tomatoes come from Italy in particular the area around foja in Puglia in the south of Italy [Music] now according to its tourist office it's an area that's full of promise a night in the luxurious Villa belonging to this old lady who will prepare you a meal you can easily cycle round the whole area even the hills for the day here you're the King of the Road the big city you'd get a fine but here you can drive with your feet visit the old town at Castel Del Monte flanked by the bright blue sea pills and down Dales to a small Church where picturesque and generous locals invite you to their wedding it's Paradise but when we went to visit we were a little disappointed we're near fodger but this area is what the locals call the Grand ghetto in the middle of the Tomato fields it's October and at the end of the season from Spring to Autumn between fifteen hundred and three thousand migrant workers live here all of them pick the tomatoes it's not easy to enter the slum Senegalese malience ivorians most are from West Africa and are ashamed of their living conditions and don't want to be filmed [Music] ESO finally does agree to talk age 29 is from the Ivory Coast seven in the morning almost too late to head off to work we're working close by here today it's just 20 30 minutes away that's why I'm still here otherwise I've gone at four in the morning the tomatoes are finished for this year is now picking olives fennel or broccoli to be able to live in the grand ghetto and set up your Hut you need to pay at least 100 euros each season to the landowner hey you see this is where we're sleeping at the moment this is the first blanket the second it's cold and the cardboard Huts don't don't really keep us warm at all a plywood framework walls made from cardboard and plastic has insulation welcome to the canteen you see this is where we can cook and where we heat the water for for when we wash in the cupboard there are a few vegetables but not even one can of tomatoes but it's got a bit hard you see look it was powdered but now it's frozen because it's too cold oh yeah I never expected these problems coming to Italy I never thought you'd find such terrible living conditions and hardships here is even in Africa it's rare to see this sort of thing you mean as bad as here yes the big ghetto here is worse than what you left behind in Africa yes and if you need convincing take a look at the sanitary block here are the showers that's where we wash but only if you bring your buckets the regional authorities provide the water [Music] this isn't La Dolce Vita it's fodja in the heart of the European Union we continue our special tour of Puglia there seemed to be half ruined houses everywhere these are the casualari this is where the agricultural equipment is usually kept [Music] but on closer inspection it's now where many migrant workers have set up shelter [Music] how many are there subsisting in the middle of the fields in Italy there are a few reliable statistics but we did get hold of a report by one of the country's main farming unions a study published in 2012 and conducted alongside researchers from the University of Milan and Italian State prosecutors found an estimated 400 000 illegal workers in the agricultural sector in fodger the trade unionists suggest we cover a very rare event indeed two seasonal workers from Morocco are filing suit against their boss what is your problem the problem is they paid me nothing we worked for nothing when I asked him for money he told me wait well we'll see about that later tomorrow the next day the week after uh what time did you begin work and what time did you finish work we used to start at seven o'clock in the morning then we had a 30 minute break at 1pm for lunch and then finished at 4 30 or 5. nine hours of harvesting a day Naseem and Abdel worked for three months for defeo a large agricultural firm they were paid 310 Euros each but defeo owed more than four times that they took some photos of themselves during the Harvest but they prefer to remain anonymous as one of them doesn't have working papers so who paid the wages the Corporal the the team leader a Corporal oh what's this about a corporal the employer the Italian owner Lee to these these problems they go around looking for workers they say who wants to come and work the pickers don't usually know which boss they'll be working for they don't know how much they'll be paid and they don't even know the hours they'll do they have no dealings directly with the owner a Corporal like in the army in the fields in fact it is a military-like organization it's known as the caporalata system which has existed for centuries throughout Southern Italy's farming sector no Corporal no work Adam is from Burkina Faso in 2011 he was picking tomatoes near leche in Puglia last year at Nado there were 60 of us but they were just contracts for 20. the Moonlighting and for much less money we found out the usual rate was 10 euros an hour but we were only getting four euros are packing a case of tomatoes and weighs 300 kilos picked in one hour and every time the Corporal takes his cut Adam secretly filmed the Harvest with his mobile phone the only white man in the video is the Corporal he's taking roll call he's the task master the one who pays the workers and transports the troops [Music] eight crammed into a small van it's not charity it's profitability as the Corporal charges for all his services [Music] [Applause] [Music] according to the union report one hundred thousand workers in Italy are victims of this form of extortion [Music] for a long time the authorities turned a blind eye but Valeria minion is one of the first magistrates to take some action it's modern slavery the Geneva Convention Compares this form of exploitation to slavery any contacts the workers have with the outside world are these corporals they pay exorbitant prices for their water a small sandwich costs them between two and five euros and they have to buy everything through the corporate they're not allowed to get it any other way they also need to pay the Corporal for their accommodation even if it's run down and unhygienic and out in the suburbs last year the state prosecutor broke up a network of human trafficking organized by the corporals video comes from the Italian police as it discovers this immigrant workers camp near nardor in the southern tip of Puglia men sleeping on the tarpaulins or just in the rough a two-year inquiry involving phone tapping when one morning bingo an Italian special ops police raid makes a huge bust [Music] intermediaries corporals traffickers farming bosses altogether 22 people are arrested but the number of victims may never be known certainly hundreds of North Africans ghanaians Senegalese and Sudanese [Music] immigrants would deal with a trafficker paying him around three thousand to three and a half thousand Euros for the journey they'd be promised a well-paid job and working papers of course that arrive in Italy convinced they were there legally having sometimes got into debt for that but of course everything was fake without legal employment without papers the immigrants are at the mercy of the network and can be exploited at will prosecutor minion orders the phone tapping of the suspected leaders for three months in this recording two farmers are referring to the immigrants as they would pack animals [Music] now this lot I'll wear out to the end of the day like animals so keep a fresh team for me will you and I'll see if they can do four or five hundred kilos understood okay [Music] as for the women field workers you can just imagine how they're treated how many women do you need for the warehouse 11 12. we'll take two women with us they'll work in the warehouse some of the time and the other time they'll work at night know what I mean one network may have been dismantled but how many others still exist in southern Italy Tomatoes watermelons broccoli grapes all fruits and vegetables that sell well in Europe supermarkets and produced by thousands of immigrant workers and almost slave-like conditions with a little perseverance it's possible to find out who's footing the social costs in these Networks foreign but there's one product where the bill is even more expensive it's fish at Sea there are no Witnesses no police no unions an exploitation goes much much further we'll tell you about these people effectively slaves alone out in the middle of the ocean but to try and do so you need to get up early at three o'clock in the morning [Music] near Paris is the largest fresh produce market in the world building B4 is where the Catch of the Day can be found 170 000 tons of seafood is handled here every year in Theory you'd think these wholesalers are experts on fish they know the names and surnames of each species and of course where they come from but we were someone disillusioned to get to the truth we hidden camera I don't care where they come from what matters are that I can sell them hello how are you listen I have a question about the prawns what's this for example oh those are great it's uh they're wild they're from the Indian Ocean the Indian Ocean because I was I was looking just now and it said East Central Atlantic that one East Central Atlantic isn't Madagascar in the Indian Ocean oh is this from Madagascar yes on the box East Central Atlantic is clearly marked funny how you forget your geography lessons from school the East Central Atlantic is here among those who have given the matter some consideration is the Environmental NGO that's built a reputation for its shock tactics out at Sea Greenpeace the man in charge of greenpeace's fishing policy in France is blind yet he's able to keep an eye on the living conditions of all those slaves on the ocean when you work on the industrial fishing sector whether it's environmental issues or social issues you wonder about the working conditions and what you soon discover is that it is very much like slavery the conditions have been made known but unfortunately they're more common than most people think and it's for an industry that supplies the fish that we eat here take guinea a small West African nation with a large seafront and a strong Maritime culture [Music] conocry is the capital The Artisan fisherman of the port of bulbine set off every day into some of the richest fishing Waters in the world what competition is tough Asian and European Factory chefs come to fish off the coast of Guinea sometimes completely unlawfully a 12-mile stretch of water is reserved for the small local fishing fleet and the factory ships are banned but some still cast their Nets just a few hundred meters offshore where the fish are most plentiful [Music] in order to pillage these Seas for a maximum profit they flaunt maritime law as they do human rights JF a British NGO has attacked these practices in its latest report on illegal fishing in West Africa the organization lists the abuses and bad conditions of thousands of sailors are subjected to on-board Korean and Chinese fishing boats it filmed these scenes in 2006. this is a Chinese trawler it could do with a lick of paint but inside this is where the fish is processed [Music] and these are the fisherman's cabins very comfortable [Music] back on land and in a suburb of conocry one hour from the port we meet up with a sailor who went through hell on board ships [Applause] 38 works on the factory ships it's not something he chooses but he has a family of 12 to feed I've been on more than a dozen Chinese ships the same thing in all of them it's hard work day and night no Sundays off no days off and if you take a break they just cancel your contract on his last journey he and his colleagues worked relentlessly for the 28 days they were out at Sea on the last day after 24 hours without sleep and exhausted he decided to have a rest I refuse to work I went to my cabin to have a rest that's how they keep control and all that for a miserable salary you only earned 200 what can you do with that look at all the children I have 12 people to take care of [Music] 200 a month no pauses no weekends no breaks [Music] go to see the guinea Fisherman's Union to find out more about life on the factory ships and listen to more eyewitness accounts [Music] [Applause] Frank tumkara no longer goes out to sea these days he manages the fisherman's Union he's in charge of the accounts and also registers complaints from Members these are all the statements that have been taken about about disputes and litigations they're often made when the sailors come back from sea so seven eight nine there were 18 complaints in 2011. no toilets no rest too many fights bad treatment and one sailor mentions how one of his friend's body had been found in the fishing nets after his corpse had been thrown overboard and so on and so forth for page after page each time the abuse takes place on South Korean or Chinese Factory ships I sleep on cardboard boxes among the Cockroaches and rats the living conditions are terrible the pay is terrible everything is terrible my brother it is very difficult to get aboard one of these Asian ships on the high seas and offer a few vain attempts the Ghanaian military agrees to take us out it's odd but in Africa there always seemed to be a French soldier somewhere in the vicinity come on manual posts in front of the cameras the Ghanaian authorities want to show us that it's acting casting off in fine style a good wind Pirates who'd better behave themselves [Music] our enemies don't sleep so we mustn't sleep either it's the reason we have a Navy well all right we shouldn't really be making fun but if we do it's because the Ghanaian authorities are laying on all of this just for the cameras the truth is they've done very little to stop any abuses up to now up to two hours at Sea we spot a Korean trawler stopped and well inside guinean territorial Waters it's meant to be a no-go area for the factory ships we set off come on CE we're on board the inspectors from the fishing Ministry carry out some controls to begin with the South Korean Captain claims he's got engine trouble that explains his presence close to the Shoreline in the no fishing Zone we make the most of the situation and go look for the crew below decks whose cabin is this one of the Africans there's nothing this is where the Africans live okay okay eight Sailors sleep here in barely five square meters okay come on here's the kitchen First Sight it doesn't seem quite as bad as on some other vessels but it's still a long way for a modern European and even South Korean standards Korean boats are no good I don't like them why why what happens well the wages Aren't Enough 170 dollars is that good for you or not no it's not much and there's no papers no contract is this where they work can we go down have a look we don't have much time and we go down into the hold we have just a few minutes but enough to see what's fished here off the coast of Guinea is packaged to make it seem it's from Korean Waters a nice sleight of hand [Music] because since 2007 Guinea no longer has the right to export its fish to Europe for sanitary reasons there aren't the necessary facilities on land to ensure the fish stays fresh as well as too many incidents of corruption among the authorities to guarantee the proper controls on the fishing boats out at Sea the fish caught here shouldn't make it to Europe so its nationality has changed we asked the captain where he hopes to send his real fake Korean fish how do you send it to Europe fish How does it go to Europe um okay on the box the stamp korf181 it means it's EU approved and authorizes the Korean vote to deliver its fish to Europe getting guinean fish into Europe is a tried and tested procedure refrigerator Ships Come to pick up the cargo that's often being caught illegally close to the coast it's known as transshipment and it's also illegal the refrigerator ships set off immediately to the Spanish Port of Las Palmas in the canaries and a Port of Entry to the European Union official chart from the Port Authorities it shows the comings and goings of three refrigerator ships in 2012 between West Africa and Las Palmas by our Reckoning they would have delivered at least 35 000 tons of fake Asian fish to these warehouses Leanne Rune and haifeng both Chinese ships and the seta 73 Korean after double checking the setter 73 is the ship that takes the fish caught by the factory ship with boarded off Guinea and imports it to Europe it's written here in the Spanish Customs documents from Las Palmas the Customs official has no problem with the fish it's Korean and that's it isn't it a problem that it's marked Korea no the origin is Korea Customs official the fish has been caught in international waters so the origin is the same as the boat so you have no way of knowing if it comes from Guinea that states the fishing was checked so for us it's legal of a specific cargo of fish and that's how the European Union allows fake Asian fish of which it knows neither the origin or the conditions in which it was caught into its territory and it won't tell us where it's going either you are the EU commissioner responsible for maritime Affairs and Fisheries can you guarantee consumers the quality and origin of the fish that is sold in Europe no this is something I cannot guarantee why because though we are I cannot guarantee that everything is faced illegally that's all good for the customers some people perhaps thinks that fishing illegal is not a big issue but it is 10 percent 10 billion a year worldwide is the value of the fish which is caught illegally 10 billion can you imagine we can say that we are improving but we are not 100 percent sure that everything that comes to our plate is fished in a legal way now we went to Las Palmas and the canaries and there was fish there that was caught off Guinea imports from there being banned since 2007. and it's clearly written in your department notes him the boats then transship their loads onto Korean or Chinese ships and they sail into Las Palmas which is a a gateway to Europe the fish is a transshipment we all end up eating it and nothing happens it's not as simple everybody who is coming in Las Palmas cannot land what they are fishing if this happens but they do check they do check we cannot be everywhere so we have to work with our member states together so I don't want to blame to put the blame on somebody else we have the responsibility thing we cannot do this alone this is an international Scourge how many people do you have do you think we have in all this exercise how many people can you imagine as a European Commission around 20 all of them so 20 people to control all the fish that's arriving in Europe I can give a promise before the end of my mandate I mean during the next year this legislation will be in place now how did that ad go lower prices more Trust that's right trust suddenly we're having doubts about the labels on the cans of fish [Music] maybe now you'll understand why we journalists sometimes have to go shopping with a secret camera Supermarket signs means we don't often have to rummage about on the shelves to find what we're looking for all the wonderful products are well presented and well lit and sometimes prevent us from seeing the important things like exploitation of the workforce and from there it's sometimes a short step to exploitation of an entire region [Music] the banana we eat it all year round on average eight and a half kilos a person in France and often sold very cheaply indeed it comes from the French West Indies from Latin America or from Africa one out of ten bananas sold in France comes from Cameroon go on admit it you never look at the little stickers do you this one says Buba [Music] the banana is also sold under the name SCB [Music] clicks and we come across a video from a group that gathers consumer opinions and then attributes an annual flavor of the Year award certainly it's not a prize for a sense of humor [Music] I and I know you want it well we're talking about bananas today in fact with the SCB premium banana from the fruit company's own plantations in Africa it's pampered on its entire Journey all the way to the customers table it's wonderful yellow orange color and and this banana is hand-picked from the exceptional climate and soil of these African countries Ivory Coast Cameroon Ghana where it gets its character and intense flavor whoa makes you want to leave for Africa straight away and Cameroon in particular that's where the fruit company of French multinational that produces the banana bought four and a half thousand hectares in 1991. [Music] company stretches over 4 700 hectares in this corporate video the fruit company outlines its activities wonderful Landscapes wonderful fruits a radiant Workforce owner of its own plantations the fruit company has been able to set up an environmental policy based on well thought out farming methods protection of Nature and the reduction of its environmental impacts given all this it's obvious that when we call the fruit companies director of communications to get permission to film he and they will welcome us with open arms oh no well listen we're perfectly happy with what we're doing it's just that we don't want to be compared with people who don't share the same vision of this business but we have done many uh we do do many as you can see on our website we just don't want to get into anything controversial controversial no permission to film well that's just making us more interested flitting about on the internet we find an extract of a report drawn up by fadena cameroonian NGO in 2010. for three years and with the support of the United Nations fadena States it had studied the impact on the environment and health of the use of pesticides in the region where the fruit company operates only a resume of the report is available but has the link between chemical products and a number of illnesses among the local population being properly established the main illnesses linked to the use of pesticides in the region have been identified the results are available in one country told you about not trusting appearances [Music] when we get to Yaounde the capital of Cameroon is a snag butena doesn't seem to have an address in fact the NGO doesn't exist anymore we did have a phone number however hello hello we don't have the study any longer we okay you're speaking to me but I don't even know your name what is your name please my name is not important our contacts sounds a little ill at ease in the event he advises we talk to the undp the United Nations development program the UN agency that co-financed a report we're looking for the undp is our last hope in finding the evidence that pesticides are causing the pollution in case we missed anything we keep filming in secret I've seen so many peoples but given the sensitive nature of the information we're not allowed to give it out to the general public I mean personally I don't know what is in the document yet another document that's too sensitive the undp official allows us to read the internal instructions concerning the scientific report we're looking for we cannot allow this information which concerns human health the quality of the soil the water and the air in the area the study focused on to reach the General Public no point in insisting the fedena study is no longer here it's been hidden from prying eyes so there's no way to find out more about an eventual link between the use of pesticides and illnesses among the people living near the banana plantations in the enchombe Pangea region the area is a stronghold of PHP the cameroonian subsidiary of the fruit company to talk about pesticides that are used in the plantation we meet up with someone who still works for PHP and who prefers to remain anonymous as we drive through the plantation we give them a list of chemicals used to boost plant growth that have now been banned to start with these are fungicides do you use any of them yes we use Bravo 720 SC Bravo was withdrawn from the French Market in 2010 as being potentially carcinogenic [Music] causes irritation to respiratory passages and was removed in 2007.75 we still use that man's 875 was also withdrawn in 2007 and it also irritates respiratory passages and pollutes water signx has not been sold in France since the year 2000 its toxic effects are still uncertain if you realize that all of these products that have been banned in France and and some for many years that's that's not right is it oh it's no longer used in France because it was estimated to be a health hazard these pesticides are still permitted in Cameroon according to our witness PHP uses them on their plantations its Internet site the company claims it respects the laws of Cameroon France and the EU the locals are particularly unhappy about are the methods used to spray these chemical products not just on the ground but also by plane crop dusting as this recent video shows [Music] the heart of the plantation we meet up with two experts on pesticides they've worked for a number of years for PHP they too prefer to remain anonymous so when the plane sprays the product the wind takes it and some of it falls onto the local population there are deposits and when the plane passes overhead everyone gets a load on their body their skin and all over simple don't listen [Music] the name of one Village in the plantation where the inhabitants complain of regularly being sprayed by the crop dusters is booba it's the same name given it to the banana that's for sale in Europe supermarkets [Music] it's very close to the to the to the bananas yeah when they pump we always suffer over the Mexican they come into the into the camp so as we are we don't have any means to only manage with the chemicals chemicals okay I mean this is the which means it poisoned me in the cocoa okay yes and do they warn you when when they're gonna come and and pour the the chemicals there's no warnings they do not want us when they come we already will know it we enter us into the house and we look close our houses you have to close everything when it comes we went there Springs the crop dusters fly twice a month and can harm the locals living close to the plantations and there's more inhabitants in the small town of injombe penja have experienced toxic rain 15 years ago kimerlan some friends were visiting the local market in the town [Music] getting a plane passed over and everyone got wet we spent four days in hospital to get treated we had problems with our eyes our problems with my eyes and they sent me to an ophthalmologist I asked for money from the company to pay for my medical expenses they refused and I had to pay out of my own pocket but the use of pesticides harms the workers in the plantation itself even more not when the plane flies over necessarily but just afterwards when the chemicals are on the leaves this elderly gentleman with a glassy stair worked on the plantation for 30 years it's when he was trimming the leaves that the powder got into his eyes he was taking the hospital a month later he lost his eyesight the boss did nothing about it so he never received any compensation it's a poison chalice it's not the only such case and we set off to meet another PHP plantation worker who is also blind Christoph and gear began picking bananas when he was a teenager the pesticides cost him his eyesight and they also cost him his job when you were working in the plantation what were the safety measures safety regulations or measures there was no equipment we didn't take it seriously our eyes out in water and they gave me drops to relieve my eyes foreign problems are common in the plantations but there are other illnesses linked to the use of pesticides according to the locals we want to check the facts and seek more evidence a few kilometers away Dr Wong is a consultant at the St John of Malta Hospital while he can't prove it he's noticed a pattern between some illnesses and the pesticides [Music] say we have a problem and it's linked to the pesticides is a hard thing to prove referring to eye problems that's when for example a plane has passed overhead and then someone calms and says their eyes hurt had patients like that those cases can be proved I have no proof that pulmonary illnesses are connected so there are people with lung infections but as a scientist what's Your Gut Feeling um if anyone is exposed to pesticides for a certain time then it's obvious their lungs will be affected but there has to be a relationship between cause and effect for long enough you can't say there isn't we try to obtain some medical files from the Saint John and Malta hospital where the doctor works but it was impossible maybe because it's partly financed by the very PHP that's a subsidiary of the fruit company something their online corporate video is key to point out and at the hospital also allows to care for the local inhabitants getting proof within the banana plantations is by no means easy the number of sick people the type and cause of illness what we do discover though are people who've become social outcasts something's wrong with this picture it's one of the richest regions in the country and yet look around the community of injombe penja doesn't look as if it's profited from the richest bananas can provide former mayor claims he was sent to prison without passing go for having raised the issue he'd just been elected mayor in 2007. Paul Eric King there is looking for financing for in John burpenja there's no money in the coffers he says the large businesses in the community hadn't paid any taxes company or otherwise amongst them largest local employer PHP we have a company like PHP it makes billions and yet it doesn't pay a penny in tax I arrive and I tell these people oh since you've been having fun and a good time and you haven't been paying taxes you know what my town is no money so now you have to start paying well Eric kingway is immediately backed by cameroon's fiscal Administration the director General makes it known he'll ensure the strict application of the law and then companies like PHP will have to pay taxes like everyone else two months later on the 28th of February 2008 the mayor is arrested and accused of fermenting popular unrest in the region a strike and demonstrations against the increasing price of fuel and food starts are blamed for the outbreak of the deadly incidents there's no evidence though the law accuses Paul Eric kingway of embezzling from his own town hall each time there's an appeal there's another banana skin to negotiate Five Years on and the former mayor is still in prison he takes advantage of a few hours leave by talking to us if you decide that you want to take on the company either as mayor or as an individual you must understand that every means has been put in place to make sure you're crushed off to present Mr Mayor now what role did PHP play in all this is his fate tied to the PHP case nothing indicates it is whatever the case according to the injombo-panger accounts it still hasn't paid up the fruit company the owner of PHP later assures Us by email that it has now been paying tax since 2011 but straight to the state not to the local community health problems amongst the locals and some serious back taxes to pay if PHP manages to go on cultivating bananas easily it's because it's been cultivating good relations with the cameroonian authorities by way of example the offices of the local MP indones are on PHP property incredibly the Member of Parliament is also the director of external relations for the company and get permission to film we do what we usually do in these circumstances which is to hide the camera and film in secretive you're an MP you work for PHP isn't that a combination that might intimidate some of the people around here [Music] because you're the MP and people will think they won't get far if they come to see their MP to complain about PHP if people say PHP does this or PHP does that I listen and then I find a solution a fair solution it's about keeping a good neighborly relationship with the local inhabitants sometimes I even stand up to PHP on behalf of my constituents normally one might call it a conflict of interest but the MP isn't the only one let's just recap so he's the director of external Affairs for PHP and another MP is currently the chairman of the board of PHP his predecessor also held the same post and was minister of Commerce at the same time [Music] Representatives who actually work for PHP are well-established Network that extends as far as Paris [Music] well who wouldn't like to play with the grown-ups at the Elysee Palace where the French president lives today Paul Binya the president of Cameroon has come here in the guise of traveling salesman meeting with President Francois land and all the ceremony of State we ask him a few questions about the links The Cameroon government has with a French banana company Mr President one question please about bananas we saw some serious problems including health problems and social issues relating to the activities of PHP the fruit company in Cameroon could you explain to us why your government doesn't do anything about it the government has a lot of problems to deal with but to get into the details I've brought along the minister of the economy we haven't ignored these problems and they're part of what we're trying to resolve but there are social problems there are health problems that have been raised down there and yet the people are complaining that the state has done nothing for them what can you tell them these problems will be resolved sir who can we talk to a driver a guardsman he avoided that banana skin ah how about the guy with the sunglasses we fix an appointment for the next morning somewhere he can answer our questions [Music] just a few steps from the Elysee Palace Cameroon is being honored here and big business from France and Cameroon is gathered a petite four in one hand and champagne in the other a flurry of exchanging business cards we soon spot jean-christophe'd seek he is representing the fruit company he's part of the official delegation of Cameroon hello sir Juan drill Lanos from France 2 television how are you can I ask you a couple of questions I'd like to talk about bananas in Cameroon I'm really quite uh tied up actually maybe I can find someone for you but you represent the fruit company I must not mistaken I work with them but I'm not familiar with with all the issues no let me find someone for you uh truth be told it would be better to find someone else but despite insisting the fruit company refused to be interviewed [Music] at a time when there are more and more labels the guarantees of the promises that are made to us the customers let's keep our eyes open and let's ask ourselves if sustainable businesses exist doesn't that mean that unsustainable businesses also exist [Music] so next weekend when we're pushing the shopping trolley between the shelves we should stop and ask at what price does exploitation begin [Music] thank you

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Length: 54min 29sec (3269 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 13 2023