{"id":1291185,"date":"2023-10-24T20:57:26","date_gmt":"2023-10-24T20:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/china\/seafood-forced-labor-10242023133025.html"},"modified":"2023-10-24T20:57:26","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T20:57:26","slug":"experts-americans-are-eating-fish-processed-by-slaves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/10\/24\/experts-americans-are-eating-fish-processed-by-slaves\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts: Americans are eating fish processed by slaves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n
North Korean and Uyghur slaves are processing seafood for Chinese companies that export to the United States, experts and lawmakers told Congress on Tuesday, with customs officials struggling to identify and keep the tainted fish off Americans\u2019 plates.<\/span><\/p>\n The experts told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China that even U.S. military caterers were buying fish caught or processed by laborers trapped in jobs from which they cannot escape \u2013 and who are seldom paid a living wage.<\/span><\/p>\n Such seafood is hard to differentiate from legally caught and processed fish, they said.<\/span><\/p>\n Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey and the chair of the committee, said there was ample evidence China-based companies are \u201cexploiting the forced labor of Uyghurs and North Koreans\u201d to undercut international competitors, including in the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFrom fish sticks to calamari, these products infiltrate the supply chains of major restaurants, wholesalers, and even find their way into the meals served in American schools and military bases,\u201d he said, adding that it violated laws like the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.<\/span><\/p>\n Smith said he and Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon who is the co-chair of the commission, had written a joint letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calling for an investigation into \u201cthe weakness of our system\u201d in allowing fish to pass customs.<\/span><\/p>\n Tough to trace<\/b><\/p>\n Ian Urbina, director of The Outlaw Ocean Project, said that seafood, as \u201cthe world's last major source of wild protein,\u201d was \u201ca distinct global commodity\u201d where labor exploitation could be particularly profitable.<\/span><\/p>\n