Tomato purée slave labour muck throwing isn't sticking

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Supermarkets and suppliers have strict modern slavery protocols. So claims that own-label ‘Italian’ tomato purée in Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose uses Chinese tomatoes picked by Uyghur Muslims under ‘forced labour’ conditions is deeply troubling.

The appalling treatment of this ethnic group has been widely covered. And in the past 10 years, Europe and the US have been flooded with cheap clothing and other non-food items. But in 2020 tomatoes were added to a ‘List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor in China’ by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB). So again the threat was known.

So is the source: Petti, a well-known Italian manufacturer, which supplies a wide-range of branded and own-label tomato products in tins, bottled jars and tubes. Petti has admitted it bought tomato paste from Chinese companies, though it disputed claims they were engaged in forced labour, while vowing to stop imports from China and enhance monitoring of suppliers.

But it’s a curious case, where the muck that’s being thrown doesn’t seem to be sticking.

In terms of UK distributor LDH La Doria, a highly-regarded importer supplying own-label Italian goods, The Grocer understands its testing results were sufficient to appease BBC investigators. Tesco pulled a number of products from shelves as a precaution when alerted to the BBC’s enquiries. And some rivals (though not all) have since followed suit. But all the supermarkets involved have vigorously disputed the BBC’s findings, claiming the test results were not conclusive.

Unanswered questions

It’s not just the supermarkets challenging the findings either. Chris Elliot, the distinguished Queen’s University Belfast professor of food safety and microbiology, has also questioned the investigation. There is robust evidence to show how Chinese tomatoes made their way to southern Italy. And the so-called fingerprint of Italian tomatoes is different from Chinese varieties. But Elliott said the sampling size, lack of comparative samples from other regions, and single-methodology was not enough to back claims the tomatoes had come from that specific region of China.

For now, the supermarkets remain defensive in their own authenticity and traceability efforts. It is unclear whether they will cut ties with the Italian manufacturer for good, as none have publicly stated a position.

It’s also worth noting that Petti was previously involved in a similar scandal in 2021, when one of its group’s factories was raided by the Italian military police on suspicion of fraud for allegedly passing Chinese and other foreign tomatoes off as Italian. The case was eventually settled out of court, but it’s public information which the UK retailers must have known of.

Legally, the supermarkets seem to be in the clear. No law in the UK compels companies to conduct human rights due diligence on their supply chains and act when abuses are uncovered, or even bans the import of goods made using forced labour.

But ultimately, public trust is already ruined. So “why take the risk?” of continuing to do business with companies associated with any modern slavery claims, Elliott asks. It’s a fair point.

But modern slavery isn’t just going on in China. Italy itself has seen widespread exploitation and abuse of seasonal workers and illegal immigrants, with many of the gangmasters controlled by the Mafia. And closer to home opportunities for exploitation are still a concern.

This week, we’ve been exploring ongoing issues with the UK’s Seasonal Worker scheme. And while the lack of certainty and oversight provided by the government is the main focus, it also highlights uncomfortable findings around coercion, vulnerability and non-payment.

It’s especially difficult for UK companies to have oversight of what happens in supply chains upstream when stuff is coming from the other side of the world but they don’t have that same excuse here at home, and there is a chance of improving things in the UK with better regulation and mandatory audits. But who will take the lead?

If the government cannot afford to assess food safety (40,000 new food and drink establishments remain unaudited), what chance worker safety in the UK’s mucky fields?