The revelations were made on during a German television documentary (Picture: Markencheck/ARD)

A 45-minute documentary claims that workers responsible for creating key ingredients for Haribo products were being kept in horrifying conditions.

The film Markencheck – which translates as brand check – created by German broadcaster ARD, examined the health and production of the German sweetmaker’s products, which are sold all over the world.

It claims to have found that carnauba wax, applied to gummy bears to make them glossy and prevent them from sticking together, is being made by some of Brazil’s poorest workers.

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Carnauba wax is taken from the leaves of carnauba palm trees, which only grow in Brazil’s northeastern states of Piaui, Ceara, Maranhao, Bahia and Rio Grande do Norte – among the country’s poorest regions.




The filmmakers claim to have found that Haribo was sourcing its carnauba wax from plantations where workers earned 40 Brazilian real (around £9.50) a day to cut the leaves down and were forced to sleep outside or in trucks.

They also say the workers had no access to toilets and had to drink unfiltered water straight from nearby rivers.

The conditions on the plantations are so poor that the Brazilian police occasionally carry out raids to free the workers, according to the ARD film.

Germany: Haribo store in the center of Bonn (Picture: PA)

Germany’s branch of Amnesty International said it was up to German companies, as well as the government, to check that suppliers don’t commit or contribute to human rights abuses.

‘If there are human rights abuses, they have to provide remedy and compensation,’ Lena Rohrbach, economy expert at Amnesty Germany, told German press.

A spokesperson from Haribo told metro.co.uk: ‘We are aware of the serious allegations that have been made and an urgent investigation is underway to help us establish the facts.

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‘Our production processes are of the utmost importance and we ask all suppliers to adhere to the strictest social and ethical standards.

‘We have always believed such standards to be indivisible and non-negotiable.’

In response to the ARD documentary, Haribo told Deutsche Welle the company was not aware of any ‘violation of our guidelines’ but that it would ‘proactively’ pursue the issues with its suppliers.

According to the Global Slavery Index, there is an estimated 40,3 million people trapped in forms of modern slavery and it’s believed that only 1% are ever freed.