| An influential example of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is EurepGAP. Established in 2001 by a handful of powerful UK and European supermarkets, EurepGAP requires produce suppliers to meet standards for food safety, labor and the environment that are independently audited. EurepGAP seeks to legitimize its protocol by emphasizing its technoscientific values, such as objectivity, transparency, and value-freedom. Focusing on the Chilean export fresh fruit chain, this qualitative study uses a Global Value Chain approach to analyze how the costs, risks, and benefits of EurepGAP are distributed throughout the value chain and what the health, safety and welfare implications of EurepGAP are for workers. Rather than an impartial technical tool, retailers use EurepGAP to govern their supply chain and shape distributional issues. EurepGAP standards offer important measures for reducing the risk of pesticide exposure for permanent, full-time workers but not for workers who are temporary and subcontracted. Retailer expectations that growers absorb the costs and risks involved in meeting standards have compelled growers to reduce labor costs. The utilization of flexible labor strategies by growers is a key obstacle to improving worker welfare. Rather than facilitate transparency and accountability, third party audits largely fail to verify compliance or illuminate shortcomings with labor standards. |
