‘Toxic Tuna’ report looks at Thailand’s ‘cannery row’

ABOVE: Tuna piled in the open at a Samut Sakhon packing plant from a scene in a video report by The Daily Telegraph.

A report from The Daily Telegraph alleges questionable sanitary conditions at Thai tuna packing plants.

A team from the Australian publication described “messy” and “smelly” conditions at a plant west of Bangkok in where tuna being investigated for sickening seven people last month at a Sydney cafe reportedly came from.

Australian agriculture officials are testing the tuna, the Monday report says, after seven diners became ill from scombroid food poisoning, which is caused by eating rotten fish.

The plant, operated by Sea Value Group, is in a coastal enclave in Samut Sakhon province where many large exporters operate, including Thai Union Frozen Products, which owns Chicken of the Sea, Bumblebee and other international brands.

The story also details poor living and working conditions for the thousands of migrant laborers employed there.

The report comes nine months after Thailand’s seafood industry which was battered by a series of investigative reports from The Guardian over the use of slave labor in Thai fishing boats.

Those reports led to several foreign chains banning the import of Thai prawns and assurances from Thai authorities the problem was overstated – yet they would seek to address it. One proposed solution was to address the labor supply issue by employing prison labor to man the fishing boats.

Related:

Manning fishing boats with prisoners invites further abuse, activists warn

Thailand seeks to repair slavery-tainted image of prawn industry

Thailand reverses position on slave labor accord

If you eat shrimp, you finance slavery and torture, report shows



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