The Aldi Seafood Forced Labor Scandals Shoppers Should Be Aware Of

When it comes to seafood scandals in grocery store chains, the recent, shocking radioactive shrimp recall is just the tip of the iceberg. Though many stores have experienced supply chain and quality problems, a number of Aldi's seafood selections (including prawns, shrimp, salmon, and tuna) have been tainted by scandal at one point or another. Though it happened as recently as 2021, many consumers have forgotten about Aldi's salmon scandal wherein Toxin Free U.S.A. filed a complaint against Aldi for labeling its Chilean-farmed salmon "sustainable" and "responsibly sourced" when this was not exactly the case. But misleading marketing was far from the worst misstep in Aldi's seafood supply chain. In 2015, the Associated Press discovered that Aldi's Thailand-based prawn supplier used child slavery. 

Two years later, the Associated Press investigated seafood facilities in China that employed North Korean laborers who were forced to work by their government. It is illegal for companies in the United States to import North Korean products, but the snow crab, salmon, and squid processed by these exploited workers slipped through the cracks and made its way to American grocery stores like Aldi. The North Korean government takes anywhere from 50-70% of its citizens' wages and forces workers into restrictive contracts under deplorable conditions. More recently, a whistleblower from Choice Canning, a seafood company in India that supplies Aldi with shrimp, published a 2024 report titled Hidden Harvest which detailed the unsanitary conditions and human rights violations taking place at its factories. 

The scandals surrounding Aldi's seafood suppliers aren't just overseas. In 2024, the Associated Press published a report stating that products in the seafood supply chain were sourced using American prison labor. Forced labor is lawful in the United States under the 13th Amendment, so long as it is punishment for a crime. Calvin Thomas, who was formerly incarcerated and working on a plantation in Angola, Louisiana during his sentence told the AP, "You can't call it anything else. It's just slavery."

Despite these findings, Aldi was the sole grocery chain to pass Greenpeace's human rights assessment in the organization's The High Cost of Cheap Tuna 2024 report with a score of 66%. It's hard to give a status update on these issues because change takes time. The United States could ban imports from companies that don't meet its human rights standards, while individual companies could refuse to work with unethical suppliers. However, some of these suppliers account for such a large portion of America's seafood supply that it would be difficult for companies to switch to other sources. Not to mention, the cost of ethically and sustainably sourced products is often more than grocery stores are willing to pay.