Is that slavery on your pasta? Uyghur forced labor fuels China’s food exports

EAST TURKISTAN'S AGRICULTURAL FORCED LABOR: GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN IMPLICATIONS
EAST TURKISTAN (XINJIANG) PRODUCES SIGNIFICANT GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS:
15% of tomato paste
10% of chili peppers
65% of pepper pigment
Growing stevia production
SYSTEMATIC EXPLOITATION MECHANISMS:
Large-scale land transfers from Uyghur farmers
50-fold increase in land transfers from 2001-2021
Forced agricultural production
Displacement of ethnic farmers
Forced labor in industrial sites
GLOBAL CORPORATE INVOLVEMENT:
72 international and 18 Chinese companies linked to East Turkistan (Xinjiang) agricultural products
IMPLICATED BRANDS INCLUDE:
Kraft Heinz
Nestlé
Del Monte
PepsiCo
McCormick
Unilever
L'Oréal
CHINA'S STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES:
Forcibly assimilate Uyghurs
Dismantle traditional Uyghur communities
Implement "population optimization."
SUPPLY CHAIN COMPLEXITIES:
Italy key conduit for East Turkistan (Xinjiang) products
Sophisticated methods of product origin concealment
Inadequate corporate supply chain audits
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Strengthen import banning legislation
Require full supply chain disclosure
Increase regulatory scrutiny
Enhance international response to forced labor practices
The research reveals a sophisticated system of economic oppression targeting Uyghur communities, deeply embedded in global agricultural and consumer product supply chains.