Last year we spoke with a prominent representative of the Vietnamese cashew industry who asked us if it would be a problem if prison labor was utilized in cashew processing. Our opinion is that under no circumstances must we, as an industry, tolerate the use of forced or prison labor in the processing of any product, most especially not in products that are to be consumed as food items.
The reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, few would condone inhumane working conditions - and in the case of prison labor there is a strong possibility that working conditions would be at the extreme limits of marginality. Indeed, many of these people may not be 'criminals' in the sense that we would understand the term - some are imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs, and have committed no crime.
Secondly, anyone laboring under such extreme conditions could hardly be expected to have concern for the integrity of the products they are processing. In fact, the risk of purposeful contamination or sabotage is significant.
"Soft Terrorism"
The FDA has recognized the possibility of 'soft' bioterrorism, where food products could be discreetly contaminated with microbes that are not particularly life threatening, but their detection could have devastating industry effects. This section of http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102544653790&s=210&e=001Psdol88E63Qm85GjrPWA00zpUogLFwfZ1eYIf218mbBPca1MhdQ608OYzdyc1smdMnFkwHXejRRQ1O9hOSnMKleEZxS217MFJrnJxIoekC20PfcjFJfg7g== ) explains the possible implications of this form of bioterrorism. But terrorists are not our only threat in the potential contamination of nut products.
One Prisoner's Story - Artificially Opened Pistachios in China
This article decribes the experiences of William Huang, a Chinese man who was arrested and imprisoned for practicing Falung Gong. He was placed in a facility where pistachios were artificially reopened by prisoners. (This is not meant to imply that such a situation was behind the recent pistachio recall - there has been no indication that the pistachios in question had been sent abroad for opening).
Here are some excerpts from his story:
" We had to put the pistachio nuts in water first so the shell became softer-some prisoners used urine for this step," he said. "Our cell was 10 meters squared for 20 prisoners and it doubled as our workshop." The bench they worked on became their bed at night. Huang said he and his cellmates had to pry the shells open for three months between March and June 2001. "We used very big iron pliers to open them ... My hands got blisters, bloody blisters, they were very painful," he said. But he could not stop working or heal his hands.The guards at the 2nd detention center in Zhuhai, China, told them that the pistachio nuts had come from the U.S. They got shipped back to the USA once opened. "We were warned not to use pork oil to help open the nuts because it would absorb bugs and become a problem to export back to the U.S.A,"
A related article proviides further information. Here are some excerpts from the second article:
"William (Kui) Huang is one of the people who spent their youth cutting open the nut shells with pliers. During an interview he told me that he had to work at least sixteen hours a day. The work was done in Cell No. 27 of Zhuhai 2nd Detention Center, which according to Huang was less than twenty square meters in size and was home to over twenty people. The room was full of products and the raw materials that they are made out of. To attend to natural calls one had to climb through these materials to reach the latrine pit in a corner which was not separated from the rest of the room. The room was never cleaned and the air was turbid. Huang witnessed a prisoner dying, not because he was beaten, but because he couldn't stand the environment."
An interview with William Huang can be found on this You Tube
Human Rights Watch - Forced Labor in the Vietnamese Cashew Industry
Unfortunately, there is evidence that in some cases forced labor is being used in cashew processing as well. Here is an excerpt from Human Rights Watch on the use of forced labor in Vietnam:
"More than 400 political and religious prisoners remain behind bars in harsh prison conditions. Prisoners are placed in solitary confinement in dark, unsanitary cells, and there is compelling evidence of torture and ill-treatment of political prisoners, including beatings and electric shock. Credible sources report the use of forced prison labor in a cashew processing facility at Xuan Loc prison, where many political prisoners are imprisoned." (Note that, according to this statement, the cashew processing facility is actually part of the infamous Xuan Loc prison)
We Must Source Responsibly
As the food chain becomes ever more global, it becomes more difficult to know our suppliers, and to monitor the conditions under which our food is produced.
The CCC can help. Please contact David Rosenthal or Mary Smith at 804-745-2848 for further information.
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