Oneota Co-op values accountability as it pertains to operational practices surrounding the product we place on our shelves. Because of this, we wish to address recent concerns, and media coverage, surrounding Amy’s Kitchen, long-term producer of vegetarian-oriented prepared foods.
On Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, NBC News launched a piece entitled “Amy’s Kitchen says its food is made with ‘love.’ Some at the factory say the job has left them injured.” The link is here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/amys-kitchen-says-food-made-love-factory-say-job-left-injured-rcna8189. An NBC follow-up, “Worker at Amy’s Kitchen files official complaint over working conditions,” went live Thursday, Jan. 27. That link is here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/worker-amys-kitchen-files-official-complaint-working-conditions-rcna12947. This piece also includes a response from Amy’s Kitchen.
Numerous media outlets reported on the filed complaint as the weeks progressed. On Friday, March 4, the Teamsters challenged Amy’s Kitchen’s B Corporation certification here: https://teamster.org/2022/03/teamsters-challenge-amys-kitchen-b-corp-certification-in-light-of-worker-abuses/. B Corps Certification requires a rigorous application process and is awarded to those companies meeting high standards of social and environmental performance. Learn more here: https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/certification/.
Your Co-op has been monitoring this situation and communicating with our fellow co-op partners and National Co-op Grocers (NCG) for some time. NCG leadership is in contact with Amy’s Kitchen and a request for information on the issue was requested. On Thursday, March 17 NCG leadership received a response from Amy’s Kitchen entitled “RE: Recent Labor Allegations.” This response was directed to the NCG category managers whose duty it is to manage vendor relationships. The response was then shared with NCG designated representatives, in our case, to General Manager Nate Furler.
The NCG designated representatives’ email invites NCG co-op partners to share the information with their staff for educational purposes and to ‘repurpose’ portions for consumer conversation. It notes that action subsequently taken by Amy’s Kitchen included an internal audit as well as a third party outside audit consisting of three days of onsite observation, interviews, human resource reports and safety study evaluation. The letter also includes a ‘Response to Specific Topics’ portion. This section answers the particular inquiries posed by NCG. These included policies regarding health and safety, pay and benefits, and details of inspection by the California Division of Occupational Health and Safety. Further response from Amy’s Kitchen, not specific to NCG, is at https://ourpeople.amys.com/.
NCG leadership does not intend to take further action at this time. Oneota Co-op will continue to monitor this unresolved situation, as will NCG. At this time we will not stop the usage of this company as one of our vendors. We value conversations about where your food comes from, how it’s made, and how it impacts our world.
