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Are Your Tomatoes Picked By Slave Laborers?
- by Laura, February 26, 2009
I read an article in the last week that I can’t get off my mind, and obviously I’m not alone as the link is spreading among food bloggers. I’m going to add to the chorus.
This article was by Barry Estabrook in Gourmet about tomato pickers in Immokalee, Florida (tomato capital of America) who describes illegal immigrants come from Mexico or Central America a working 10 hour days and earning 45 cents for every 32 lb bucket of tomatoes they pick--jobs which most Americans simply won’t do. You can click on this slide show and get a glimpse.
From Eastabrook:
“In Florida’s Immokalee tomato fields, slavery, squalid living conditions are symptoms of system that exploits immigrants so supermarkets can sell winter tomatoes and fast-food outlets can add them to sandwiches. In 12 years, officials have freed 1,000-plus workers.”
A thousand people freed from slavery in Florida over the last dozen years? All so we can have tasteless pink tomatoes out of season? The article tells us that if we eat a tomato this winter, chances are that it was picked by someone living in slave conditions. Estabrook recounts stories of
workers who get their lives threatened if they try to leave work camps.
Rather than righteously cogitate any further, I want to send you directly to the CIW--Coalition of Immokalee Workers--which has done a wonderful job over the last years. Rather than force a boycott, they work hard negotiating with large food companies such as Subway sandwich company, fast food chains, and Whole Foods, trying to get them to sign agreements that they wont buy tomatoes that were picked with abusive labor practices. You can visit their website, find more information, photos of conditions, and “take action” suggestions, such as easy forms you can download for letters to companies and elected officials. http://ciw-online.org Here are some photos from CWI giving a glimpse. Please take a moment to have a look. The link to Estabrook’s article is below.
Here, again, the Barry Estabrook article. I think it’s a great story and so glad that Gourmet did it.
To find out about Laura's search for a long lost family recipe, click [
Thank you for raising awareness about this! I hate to think of all the times I may have (ignorantly) contributed to this problem! I’m not one to send my money to people who oppress or enslave, so I’m glad you posted this--they won’t be getting my dollars anymore if I can help it!
Now I’ve got even more reasons to build that greenhouse I’ve been contemplating, and grow my own tomatoes year-round!
– Jenny (March 04 2009 at 12:26)