In European supermarkets, tomato sauce tainted by forced labor of Uyghurs – Libération

A BBC investigation provides new evidence on tomato purees sold as Italian, but in reality produced from concentrate manufactured in disregard of environmental rules and human rights in Xinjiang, a region of China affected by intense repression.

In front of the tomato sauce aisles of supermarkets, any consumer who has read the Empire of red goldthe remarkable investigation by Jean-Baptiste Malet (Fayard, 2017, Albert-Londres prize) is haunted by its description of cans filled with tomato paste with a foul odor, stacked in a Chinese factory in Xinjiang with labels with colors of the Italian flag. In a new shocking investigation, the BBC has recalled this infamous business which combines commercial scams, environmental scandals, repression of the Uighurs, forced labor and even acts of torture.

Thanks to laboratory tests carried out on 64 different tomato purees sold in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States, British radio was able to trace the origin of products sold in Europe under the label “Italian tomato puree” or “mashed Italian tomatoes”, actually made in Xinjiang, also called East Turkestan. The result: 17 products, most of them own brands sold in British and German retailers, are likely to contain Chinese tomatoes, including under organic or organic-related brands. An absence of scruples on the part of importers which undoubtedly does not spare France: end of October, Xinjiang Guanno