Tomato purees labeled as “Italian” for sale in several U.K. supermarkets appear to contain tomatoes grown and picked in China using forced labor, the BBC has found.
Some have “Italian” in their name such as Tesco’s “Italian Tomato Purée.” Others have “Italian” in their description, such as Asda’s double concentrate which says it contains “Puréed Italian grown tomatoes,” and Waitrose’s “Essential Tomato Purée”, describing itself as “Italian tomato puree.”
BBC World Service commissioned tests, and found that a total of 17 products, most of them own-brands sold in U.K. and German retailers, are likely to contain Chinese tomatoes.
Most Chinese tomatoes come from the Xinjiang region, where their production is linked to forced labor by Uyghur and other largely Muslim minorities. The UN has accused China of torture and abuse of the minorities, which it considers a security risk. China says the UN report is based on “disinformation and lies,” and denies it forces people to work in the tomato industry.
The BBC said all the supermarkets whose products they tested dispute the findings.
