Tomato Products

Table of Contents

There are reports that the production of tomato products in the Chinese province of Xinjiang is associated with the forced labor of Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in the region.¹ The United States has issued a Withhold Release Order (WRO) against tomato products from China’s Xinjiang region. This ban applies to countries that produce goods using tomatoes and tomato products from China.²
While some tomato products may be lightly processed and relatively easy to trace (due to fewer actors handling and processing the material), more heavily processed goods that include tomato products as an ingredient may be more challenging to trace. Isolating and mapping the supply chains of tomato product ingredients in goods can help improve traceability of those specific inputs.
Tomatoes and tomato products produced in countries with forced labor risk, may be further processed in intermediary countries before retail products are exported to destination countries for marketing and sale, obscuring the origin of key ingredients.³ Tracing tomato ingredients and inputs all the way back to the farm level, or at least the geographic region of the farm, is therefore important to understanding associated risks.

Forced Labor or Trafficking in Persons cited by U.S. Government

Risk of Forced Labor or Trafficking in Persons cited by other source

Documented presence of migrant workers

Documented presence of other vulnerable workers

Child Labor cited by U.S. Government

Risk of Child Labor cited by other source

Documented presence or significant likelihood of third-party labor recruiters

The U.S. Department of Labor reports the presence of forced labor in the production of tomato products in China.⁴
Other sources have also noted the risk of forced labor in the production of tomato products in China.⁵
There is a documented presence of forced internal migration in the Xinjiang region of China as Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities are forcefully detained and held in camps, then forced to work in the processing of tomato products.⁶
China produces large volumes of tomato paste, which is the foundation for many other tomato products. The production of this paste has been linked to forced labor in the Xinjiang region where vulnerable workers, including Uyghur Muslims, have been documented.⁷
Abuses of vulnerable workers in tomato production have been noted in a number of other countries. In Italy, migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and Asia are employed in tomato production, where they are engaged by labor contractors, to whom they can owe up to half of their earnings for food, lodging, and fees.⁸ Indicators of forced labor have been noted among workers on vegetable farms in Mexico, including farms that produce tomatoes. In 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) identified indicators of forced labor including abuse of vulnerability, deception in recruitment, withholding of wages, debt bondage, and abusive working and living conditions on farms in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí.⁹ CBP issued a withhold release order (WRO) on tomatoes from some farms in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí in response to the finding of forced labor indicators and reports of forced labor abuses from 2020.¹⁰ In the United States, Mexican and Guatemalan migrants, including children, reportedly work in tomato fields in multiple states including Florida.¹¹

Multiple points of aggregation, co-mingling, and/or transformation across supply chain

Complex/opaque supply chains and/or lack of vertical integration

Large numbers of dispersed, unorganized, or informal small producers or other worksites

High degree of flexibility in procurement practices of downstream entities

The supply chain of processed tomato products can be complex due to the multiple pathways that products can take to reach the market. A large-scale processing factory is likely to have a corporate tomato production base. However, smaller-scale processing factories buy their tomato crop from smaller-scale farmers via a broker. Following the tomato processing at factories, tomato products are either sold to international buyers or kept for the domestic market. Alternatively, corporate processing factories in China sell their tomato paste to multinational corporations for further transformation into other tomato products, which complicates the supply chain.¹²

Scale or nature of risk varies significantly based on geographic area of production

Scale or nature of risk is strongly associated with certain types of suppliers/entities

Scale or nature of risk is present across multiple tiers or nodes of supply chain (including in associated downstream or upstream goods)

The nature of risk varies based on geographic location. Risk is strongly associated with the Xinjiang region of China due to the presence of forced labor camps.¹³

The primary input for tomato products is tomatoes, which are produced through large or small-scale farming. The Tomatoes profile describes risk in nodes of tomato farming and production. Tomatoes are then processed and packaged into a variety of tomato products in factory settings, including bulk-package tomato paste, canned tomato paste (small size), ketchup products,¹⁴ as well as tomato purees, sauce, juice, and powder. While tomato processing includes automated production processes, sorting and inspecting tomatoes after initial washing is performed manually.¹⁵ Tomato products are sold in international and domestic markets. After sale, the primary tomato product is often further processed by secondary processors into different tomato products or used as an ingredient in other food products.¹⁶ Corporate supply chains of tomato products can differ in nature; certain processing factories produce tomato paste in bulk for the purpose of global exportation to the factories of multinational enterprises abroad, where the tomato paste is further transformed into the final tomato product (e.g. branded tomato sauces like ketchup).¹⁷

Tomato processing (i.e. sorting, chopping, heating, juicing)

Packaging

Export

Further processing

Retail

Inputs to tomato products include: tomatoes, sugar (beet or cane) and salt.

Glass may be used as a container for tomato products.

Food and Beverage

Raw tomato paste can be used in the production of tomato sauces and other processed food products.

Fairtrade International (Identity Preservation + Segregated/Bulk Commodity) for dried tomatoes Italian National Association of Fruit and Vegetable Canning’s Tomato Blockchain Pilot

1
Fanzeres, Julia., Ren, Henry. “U.S. Bans Xinjiang Cotton Products, Tomatoes Over Forced Labor”, Bloomberg, 14 January, 2021. www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-13/u-s-bans-all-xinjiang-cotton-products-tomatoes-on-forced-labor?sref=crvicPLk.
2
Fanzeres, Julia., Ren, Henry. “U.S. Bans Xinjiang Cotton Products, Tomatoes Over Forced Labor”, Bloomberg, 14 January, 2021. www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-13/u-s-bans-all-xinjiang-cotton-products-tomatoes-on-forced-labor?sref=crvicPLk; CBP Issues Region-Wide Withhold Release Order on Products Made by Slave Labor in Xinjiang. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 13 January 2021, www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-issues-region-wide-withhold-release-order-products-made-slave.
3
Civillini, Matteo., et al. “Canada’s grocery chains stocked with tomato products connected to Chinese forced labour.” CBC, 29 October 2021, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/marketplace-tomato-products-investigation-1.6227359.
4
Bureau of International Labor Affairs, List of Goods Produced by Child or Forced Labor. 28 September 2022, www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods?tid=All&field_exp_good_target_id=17003&field_exp_exploitation_type_target_id_1=All&items_per_page=10.
5
Fanzeres, Julia., Ren, Henry. “U.S. Bans Xinjiang Cotton Products, Tomatoes Over Forced Labor.” Bloomberg, 14 January, 2021. www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-13/u-s-bans-all-xinjiang-cotton-products-tomatoes-on-forced-labor?sref=crvicPLk.
6
Alecci, Scilla. “The faces of China’s detention camps in Xinjiang.” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, 24 May 2022, www.icij.org/investigations/china-cables/xinjiang-police-files-uyghur-mugshots-detention/.
7
Civillini, Matteo., et al. “Canada’s grocery chains stocked with tomato products connected to Chinese forced labour.” CBC, 29 October 2021, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/marketplace-tomato-products-investigation-1.6227359; Fanzeres, Julia., Ren, Henry. “U.S. Bans Xinjiang Cotton Products, Tomatoes Over Forced Labor”, Bloomberg, 14 January, 2021. www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-13/u-s-bans-all-xinjiang-cotton-products-tomatoes-on-forced-labor?sref=crvicPLk 7 July 2022
8
Jones, Tobias and Ayo Awokoya. “Are your tinned tomatoes picked by slave labor?” The Guardian, 20 June 2019, www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/20/tomatoes-italy-mafia-migrant-labour-modern-slavery.
9
CBP Issues Withhold Release Order on Tomatoes Produced by Farm in Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Oct 2021, www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-issues-withhold-release-order-tomatoes-produced-farm-mexico#.
10
Marosi, Richard. “U.S. Blocking Tomato Shipments from Mexican Farms Accused of Abusing Workers.” Los Angeles Times, 31 Dec 2021, www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-12-31/u-s-blocks-tomato-shipments-from-mexican-farms-accused-of-abusing-workers.
11
Scheiber, Noam. “Why Wendy’s Is Facing Campus Protests (It’s About the Tomatoes).” The New York Times, 7 March 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/business/economy/wendys-farm-workers-tomatoes.html.
12
Scheiber, Noam. “Why Wendy’s Is Facing Campus Protests (It’s About the Tomatoes).” The New York Times, 7 March 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/business/economy/wendys-farm-workers-tomatoes.html.
13
Swanson, Ana. “U.S. Bans All Cotton and Tomatoes From Xinjiang Region of China.” The New York Times, 13 January 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/business/economy/xinjiang-cotton-tomato-ban.html#:~:text=WASHINGTON%20%E2%80%94%20The%20Trump%20administration%20on,forced%20labor%20in%20the%20region.
14
Social and Environmental Risk Study on Tomato Products Supply Chain in China. Social Resources Institute (SRI) and Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), March 2014, www.somo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Made-in-China-CRI.pdf.
15
“Tomato Processing Line.” Beyond, fruitprocessingmachine.com/portfolio-items/tomato-processing-line/.
16
Social and Environmental Risk Study on Tomato Products Supply Chain in China. Social Resources Institute (SRI) and Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), March 2014, www.somo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Made-in-China-CRI.pdf.
17
Social and Environmental Risk Study on Tomato Products Supply Chain in China. Social Resources Institute (SRI) and Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), March 2014, www.somo.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Made-in-China-CRI.pdf.
18
List of exporters for the selected product in 2021. Product: 2002 Tomatoes, prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid. ITC Trade map, www.trademap.org/Country_SelProduct.aspx?nvpm=1%7c%7c%7c%7c%7c2002%7c%7c%7c4%7c1%7c1%7c2%7c1%7c%7c2%7c1%7c1%7c1.

Funding is provided by the United States Department of Labor under cooperative agreement number IL‐35805. 100 percent of the total costs of the project or program is financed with federal funds, for a total of USD 4,000,000. This material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the United States Government

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Tomato Products

Supply Chain Characteristics that Impact Traceability

Traceability Takeaways

Nature of Labor Rights Risk/Vulnerable Workers

Features of Production and Supply Chain

Distribution of Labor Risk in Various Production Areas

Linked Upstream and Downstream Risks

Risk in Nodes in Tomato Products’ Production

Associated Upstream Goods with Labor Risk

Associated Downstream Goods and Consumer Sectors

Top Global Countries

Examples & Resources: Traceability Efforts Associated With Tomato Products

Footnotes