What consumers put on their plates can carry a hidden human toll, and some diets are far more entangled in forced labor than others, according to a new study by Tufts University and the University of Nottingham.
Researchers found that animal protein represent the single largest source of forced labor risk, making up a staggering 43.1% of the total, with dairy and red meat among the biggest offenders, the report noted.
Handpicked fruits are also high-risk, according to the report.
Globally, an estimated 28 million people are trapped in forced labor conditions marked by coercion and involuntariness, according to the United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO), underscoring the scale of exploitation behind everyday meals.
Dieting regimens analyzed
The study analyzed the risk of forced labor embedded in five recommended US diets: the Healthy US-Style Diet, Healthy Mediterranean-Style Diet, Healthy Vegetarian Diet, 2019 EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet and the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
“We chose the three patterns from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans because that’s our federal nutrition guidance,” according to Nicole Tichenor Blackstone, associate professor at the Friedman School and senior author on the report. “We included the Planetary Health Diet from the Lancet Commission because it’s also emerged as an important reference diet in the space of healthy and sustainable food systems, and it outlines a pretty different dietary pattern than the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
“We were interested in exploring both important references for the United States specifically and an important reference diet for the global context.”
Charting forced labor in the agri-food supply chain is a challenge that involves industries worldwide that employ an estimated 1.23 billion workers, according to the report.
“There are a lot of difficulties in measuring as you can imagine,” said report co-author Jessica Sparks, an assistant professor at the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. “When you have marginalized and oppressed workers, there’s often very little incentive for them to come forward and report what’s happening,”
Forced labor matrix
Researchers rated more than 200 foods commonly found in Americans’ diets, placing them on a risk scale based on the location of where they are grown, harvested or processed.
Sparks said forced labor is defined by standards set by ILO, which include 11 indicators: abuse of vulnerability; deception; restriction of movement; isolation; physical and sexual violence; intimidation and threats; retention of identity documents; withholding of wages; debt bondage; abusive working and living conditions; and excessive overtime.
Those eleven categories are grouped under the concepts of coercion and involuntariness. To meet the standard of forced labor means workers have at least one element of each of those two umbrella concepts, Sparks explained.
Diets ranked for forced labor
“We found that recommended healthy diets could have higher or lower risk of forced labor compared with what Americans currently eat, depending on the mix of foods,” Tichenor Blackstone said.
The study found that the Mediterranean Diet posed a higher forced labor risk due to its emphasis on seafood, fruits and some red meat. Meanwhile, dairy posed the highest source of risk in the US-Style diet.
“In contrast, the Healthy Vegetarian diet, which includes beans, soy, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and the Planetary Health diet, which is mostly plant-based, with very small amounts of meat and dairy to reduce environmental impact, had lower risks,” the study found. “These diets both showed outsized risk from nuts and seeds.”
Forced labor study goals
Tichenor Blackstone said the study contributes to a body of knowledge such as the 2025 EAT‑Lancet Commission report on healthy, sustainable and just food systems, which was released in October.
“In this update of the commission, they included the right to decent work as part of social foundations needed for a just and sustainable food system,” Tichenor Blackstone said. “And this work really complements what the EAT-Lancet Commission does by focusing on forced labor.”
The study noted that “swapping foods on individual plates may not end forced labor,” but its authors aim to educate policymakers about its impacts.
“The Dietary Guidelines for Americans shape what millions of children and adults eat through public programs like school lunches, and cities worldwide are using the Planetary Health Diet to help guide purchasing policies,” the study noted.
Dietary Guidelines for Americans
The recently updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans prioritizes protein at every meal, potentially inadvertently perpetuating labor risks. Catch up on our coverage:
Federal diet guidelines accused of bowing to Big Meat
Doctors and nutrition advocates say new Dietary Guidelines for Americans sideline science in favor of meat and dairy industry
‘Highly-processed’ or ‘ultra-processed’? New dietary guidelines reignite a definitional food fight
The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans avoid the term “ultra-processed foods,” prompting both praise and criticism
How the Dietary Guidelines may shape product strategy and development
The latest Dietary Guidelines may not reinvent the wheel, but they offer manufacturers a roadmap to balance nutrition, consumer preference and formulation strategy across sweeteners, grains and processed foods, according to one expert
How the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines are shifting America’s plate – and sparking debate
The newest Dietary Guidelines emphasize whole foods, protein and animal fats – a shift praised by some experts as overdue, but others warn the report is retro and insufficient
Giving workers a seat at the table in developing policies around forced labor is critical to reducing inequities, according to Sparks.
“The best way to reduce forced labor in our food supply chains is to let workers lead in shaping solutions and to back those solutions with legally binding agreements that protect them from retaliation,” said Sparks.
