(Image Source: Apple )  BY SCOTT MALONE ANCHOR MIKAH SARGENT In response to criticism surrounding its supply chain, Apple commissioned an audit of the factories, which uncovered multiple cases of child labor. Apple’s annual supplier report uncovered 106 cases of underage labor in use at Apple suppliers last year, and another 70 formerly-underage employees, spread across 11 facilities. The audit includes one supplier that employed 74 children under the age of 16 - China’s legal working age. Apple has terminated its relationship with them. (Via KTVU ) According to Bloomberg , one Chinese labor agent “cooperated with families to forge documents allowing the children to get past age-verification procedures.” The report was commissioned by CEO Tim Cook shortly after a series employee suicides in China were linked to working conditions at Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that manufactures iPads and iPhones. Last year, Cook told investors the use of underage labor is “abhorrent” and it was “extremely rare in our supply chain.” Cook added the company had stepped up measures to weed out bad practices, including hiring an independent auditor. (Via Mac Rumors ) Apple says it has a zero-tolerance policy with underage labor, and the company’s senior VP of operations told Business Insider when they find an underage labor problem …. “We go deep in the supply chain to find it. And when we do find it, we ensure that the underage workers are taken care of, the suppliers are dealt with. But a writer for The Atlantic Wire points out there could be more bad news to come: another 158 factories were not auditing their own suppliers , an admission the writer says “reveals just how much of the company’s process goes unchecked.”