SA poultry body will ask Brazil to explain claims of slavery in chicken industry
The South African Poultry Association (Sapa) will ask the government to seek comment from Brazil about allegations of slavery in that country’s poultry industry. Sapa said on Wednesday it was extremely concerned about a report by the Washington-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) identifying horrific working conditions, amounting to slave labour, at certain Brazilian poultry producers. Brazil is the world’s largest chicken producer and exporter. It is the main source of chicken imports to SA, according to Sapa. In Brazil, teams known as chicken catchers worked up to 20 hours a day to catch more than 50,000 chickens a day, the report said. Reuters reported that chicken catchers "suffer egregious working conditions". The IATP report was corroborated by the Berlin-based Heinrich Boll Foundation and Brazilian rights group FASE. More than 160,000 people are believed to be trapped in modern slavery in Brazil, Reuters reported. Brazil’s biggest poultry producers have de...
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