Whether boiled, streamed or grilled, or chopped up and used in risotto, soup or salad, asparagus has become one of our favorite vegetable treats.
But in Eastern Europe, farm workers have been paying a high price to get the tasty green spears onto our dinner tables, an investigation by the Dutch TV channel EO has revealed.
The film, just released in the UK (you can watch it above), documents the brutal treatment suffered by a group of Romanian workers at the hands of people traffickers who took them to work on asparagus farms in the Czech Republic linked to a Dutch company which has supplied leading food outlets in a number of European countries.
The workers describe being forced to toil for hours at a time harvesting asparagus, of being beaten, and of being threatened with guns, knives and swords by the gang.
Corina Rohaveanu, one of the workers interviewed for the programme, says: "As soon as we arrived our IDs were taken. I thought to myself, we have no chance of escape".
Earlier this year, three men were convicted of people trafficking offences relating to the case, but the film asks why the Dutch company involved has - so far - escaped prosecution
Klara Skrivankova, Anti-Slavery International Trafficking Programme Co-ordinator, said: “Across Europe the trafficking for forced labour is on the increase, becoming even more prominent than trafficking for sexual exploitation. However, prosecutions in the main remain rare, with cases of exploitative gangmasters responsible for forced labour receiving fines for breaching health and safety regulations rather than facing stiff criminal penalties for committing a human rights abuse. The prosecution of the traffickers responsible in this case finally sends the necessary strong message that forced labour will not be tolerated.”
The film comes on the back of The Ecologist's own 'Who's picking your food?' investigation into exploitation in the food supply chain.
The major series linked Coca Cola to cheap migrant labour in Italy's orange groves, and highlighted sexual harassment of women at a PG Tips tea estate in Africa, amongst other stories.
Useful links
Anti-Slavery International www.antislavery.org/english/
READ MORE... | |
![]() |
NEWS ANALYSIS Coca Cola responds to orange harvest 'exploitation' controversy The soft drinks giant is looking at extending its supply chain audits and facilitating talks on ensuring better standards after Ecologist investigation uncovers squalid conditions and low pay for some migrant workers in Calabria |
![]() |
COMMENT Special report Who is picking our food? In a major investigation the Ecologist reports on the hidden stories behind those harvesting the fruit and vegetables we eat everyday |
![]() |
HOW TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE The Harvest: new film reveals scourge of child labour in US farming Despite campaigning to reduce child labour internationally, the US is home to at least 230,000 child labourers toiling in the fields to pick blueberries, tomatoes or cotton |
![]() |
NEWS ANALYSIS PG Tips and Lipton tea hit by 'sexual harassment and poor conditions' claims Unilever denies some female employees at its Rainforest Alliance-certified tea plantation in Kenya are subjected to sexual harassment. But Dutch research outfit SOMO paints a very different picture. Verity Largo and Andrew Wasley report |
![]() |
NEWS ANALYSIS Scandal of the 'tomato slaves' harvesting crop exported to UK Across Italy an invisible army of migrant workers harvests tomatoes destined for our dinner plates. Paid poverty wages and living in squalor, medical charities have described conditions as 'hell'. Andrew Wasley reports from Basilicata, southern Italy |