Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain
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Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain
#2Most recently, the apparel world has been roiled by revelations that cotton from Xinjiang, in China, is being grown and processed using forced labour. The scandal implicated some of the world’s biggest brands, including H&M, Nike, Adidas and Gap, and prompted sanctions and restrictions in the west on imports made of Xinjiang cotton. Last August, not long after the US banned all imports containing Xinjiang cotton, US customs authorities asked Oritain for a pilot demonstration of its cotton-tracing abilities.
This is one of the reasons China is going particularly ballistic over Xinjiang cotton. In the past supply chain controversies could be "fixed" relatively easy with bogus local inspections, fake documentation, or supplier shell games, but the science here is harder to fool.
This not just an issue for cotton. As the article notes, fake fish can be spotted with genetic analysis, and that's a global problem with very local consequences. The Boston Globe did a big report on this a few years back, concluding many local restaurants and markets in Eastern Massachusetts were flat-out lying about the fish they were selling:
Ken’s Steak House in Framingham again served Pacific cod instead of a more expensive Atlantic species. Slices of fish sold as white tuna at Sea To You Sushi in Brookline were again actually escolar, an oily species nicknamed the “ex-lax’’ fish by some in the industry because it can cause digestion problems. H Mart, an Asian supermarket chain found to have sold mislabeled red snapper last year, this time was selling inexpensive freshwater Nile perch as pricier ocean grouper at its Burlington store.
https://www3.bostonglobe.com/business/specials/fish/?arc404=...
Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain
#3Clearly, the next step is to create a fake origin tracing firm.
Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain
#4Most recently, the apparel world has been roiled by revelations that cotton from Xinjiang, in China, is being grown and processed using forced labour. The scandal implicated some of the world’s biggest brands, including H&M, Nike, Adidas and Gap, and prompted sanctions and restrictions in the west on imports made of Xinjiang cotton. Last August, not long after the US banned all imports containing Xinjiang cotton, US…
Back in university, I had a class that required I get up early some mornings so I walked past a lot of sushi places as fish was getting delivered. Lots of places getting boxes labelled escolar, but nobody had anything but tuna on the menu.
Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain
#5> Most recently, the apparel world has been roiled by revelations that cotton from Xinjiang, in China, is being grown and processed using forced labour. The scandal...prompted sanctions and restrictions in the west on imports made of Xinjiang cotton.
This is super weird because the US _also_ still uses forced prison labor to pick cotton.
Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain
#6> Most recently, the apparel world has been roiled by revelations that cotton from Xinjiang, in China, is being grown and processed using forced labour. The scandal...prompted sanctions and restrictions in the west on imports made of Xinjiang cotton. This is super weird because the US _also_ still uses forced prison labor to pick cotton.
So your equating prison in the US to the camps in Xinjiang?
Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain
#7> Most recently, the apparel world has been roiled by revelations that cotton from Xinjiang, in China, is being grown and processed using forced labour. The scandal...prompted sanctions and restrictions in the west on imports made of Xinjiang cotton. This is super weird because the US _also_ still uses forced prison labor to pick cotton.
So your equating prison in the US to the camps in Xinjiang?
No, US prison camps are definitely worse due to their scale and history.
> Many of these prisons had very recently been slave plantations, Angola and Mississippi State Penitentiary (known as Parchman Farm) among them.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/prison-...
Uncomfortable truth. Will probably get flagged.
Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain
#8> Most recently, the apparel world has been roiled by revelations that cotton from Xinjiang, in China, is being grown and processed using forced labour. The scandal...prompted sanctions and restrictions in the west on imports made of Xinjiang cotton. This is super weird because the US _also_ still uses forced prison labor to pick cotton.
Is there a single large economy that doesn't prohibit forced prison labor? I can't find one.
Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain
#9> Most recently, the apparel world has been roiled by revelations that cotton from Xinjiang, in China, is being grown and processed using forced labour. The scandal...prompted sanctions and restrictions in the west on imports made of Xinjiang cotton. This is super weird because the US _also_ still uses forced prison labor to pick cotton.
So your equating prison in the US to the camps in Xinjiang?
the 13th amendment states that the only acceptable form of slavery is prison labor.
pair that with the fact that the united states is #1 in prisoners per capita, and it's not hard to come to a pretty dark conclusion...
Re: Food fraud and counterfeit cotton: detectives untangling the global supply chain
#10Most recently, the apparel world has been roiled by revelations that cotton from Xinjiang, in China, is being grown and processed using forced labour. The scandal implicated some of the world’s biggest brands, including H&M, Nike, Adidas and Gap, and prompted sanctions and restrictions in the west on imports made of Xinjiang cotton. Last August, not long after the US banned all imports containing Xinjiang cotton, US…
Just to nitpick slightly there is no such thing as white tuna. What’s called white tuna is always escolar. Albacore is a pinkish or off white tuna but I’ve never seen it listed as white tuna at a restaurant.