Are You Eating Slave Grown Tomatoes

If you're not a human rights activist, or the owner of a major food chain you've probably never heard of Immokalee, Florida. It's located about one hour from Naples, one of the richest cities in Florida. Where the average home sells for more than one and a half million dollars, and shopping malls and golf courses are common occurrences. In stark comparison, the houses in Immokalee, Florida are mostly trailers sitting on dirt yards and the average annual income is less than $9000 a year.

Immokalee, Florida is the tomato capital of the United States. During the season, from December to May, ninety percent of the tomatoes that Americans eat come from there. Scrambling as fast as possible during all the available daylight hours, a worker can make a maximum of $50 a day. That's 45 cents per 32lb basket. The same price that workers received 30 years ago.

But, one of the largest areas of farm workers in the state is a place where even the meager dreams of earning $200 a week are rarely realized. Workers are most often housed in ten-square-foot trailers, or the back of box trucks. And they pay around $2000/month for the privilege. Cold showers from a garden hose on the premises? $5 each. There, everything has an inflated price and most workers end up so deeply in debt, that they have no hopes of getting out.

Practices like these are what has caused human rights groups like the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to call the conditions in Immokalee a form of modern slavery. According to Gourmet Magazine, when workers inquire about their debt, they are threatened with violence. Or worse, if they attempt to leave. Their paychecks are taken by their employers, and they are given a minimal amount ($20 or $50). Most workers can't afford to feed themselves after paying the variety of exorbitant fees at the work camp. Which means getting even further into debt for two to three paltry meals a day. Mostly beans. One worker claims to have been deprived of nearly $60,000 over the decades that he has worked in Immokalee.

Since 1997, law-enforcement officials have freed more than 1000 workers from Immokalee. And activist groups are quick to point out that the workers, in fear for their safety and undocumented, rarely ever speak out against their employers. So many cases are dismissed.

The imagery makes you think of close-minded southern sharecroppers who need to be educated about human rights. But most of the land in Immokalee is owned by the major restaurants and grocery retailers around the country that profit the most from the $500 million in tomatoes that come out of Immokalee annually. Gourmet Magazine is quick to point out that the harvesting is overseen by independent contractors called crew bosses who are in charge for hiring and overseeing the pickers. But the retailers do not claim to be ignorant of the practices that go on.

So, what is a consumer to do? Do you stop going to McDonalds or Taco Bell or Wal-Mart or any of the hundreds of other major US retailers and grocery stores that use slave-grown tomatoes? You could, but that's not practical. Instead, you could become more aware of where the tomatoes you buy originate. They are required by law to announce it on their label. Or, support or volunteer with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers who have been supporting the Immokalee workers rights by lobbying to raise their pay. At the very least, check out the photos and testimonials on their site.

In 2005, Yum! Brands (who own Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silver's, and A&W), under pressure from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers agreed to a one cent raise. McDonald's followed suit in 2007, Burger King, Whole Foods Market and Subway followed suit in 2008. Small change for them, but it brings the workers one step closer to a living wage.