Government responds to questions about what assessment they have made of media reports that puréed tomatoes produced by Uyghur slave labour in Xinjiang are sold in UK supermarkets as having been produced in Italy; and what steps they are taking to require products produced in a state accused of genocide and slave labour to be labelled as such.
Baroness Hayman of Ullock, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has provided the following answer to your written parliamentary question (HL3054):
Question by Lord Alton of Liverpool:
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of media reports that puréed tomatoes produced by Uyghur slave labour in Xinjiang are sold in UK supermarkets as having been produced in Italy; and what steps they are taking to require products produced in a state accused of genocide and slave labour to be labelled as such. (HL3054)
Tabled on: 02 December 2024
Answer:
Baroness Hayman of Ullock:
The Government expects all UK businesses to respect human rights in line with the OECD Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
We work to maintain high standards on the information that is provided on food labels so that consumers can have confidence in the food they buy. When the country of manufacture of a processed food, such as tomato puree, is provided on the label, the label must also show if the origin of the primary ingredient (the tomatoes in this case) is different. In any case, all information must be accurate and not mislead.
Date and time of answer: 19 Dec 2024 at 16:26.
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