Retail giant Asda said it is horrified by the allegations in last week’s edition of the BBC’s Panorama programme that one of its suppliers used illegal immigrants as cheap labour.
The programme was screened in the same week as 58 immigrant workers from China were found dead in transit to the UK in a cargo container.
An Asda spokesman said, “We take this issue very seriously and were horrified to find a supplier had been using illegal workers. We immediately carried out an ethical audit of our supplier Fenmarc, which highlighted some concerns.
“Those are being addressed and we are working with our suppliers to put them right.
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“The suppliers are implementing best practice – by insisting on seeing original documents, not copies and by working with the immigration service to understand how to spot fake documents.”
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation voiced fears last week that unlawful labour has penetrated to the core of the UK economy, particularly in the industrial sectors.
