Pet dinner with conscience
In June 2014 there were released news from a six-month investigation about slave labour to fish prawns for supermarkets in US and UK.
It was revealed that large numbers of men are being bought and sold like animals and held against their will on fishing boats off Thailand to work in the production of prawns (commonly called shrimp in the US) sold in leading supermarkets around the world.
The news raise the discussion about seafood traceability and retailers as Carrefour took action in dissociating their supermarkets from a human exploitation and lack of human rights production source.
At this time the discussion was about prawns, an expensive and high value seafood product, but more is needed to discuss when it comes to Thai seafood industry for low quality standard as pet food:
The USA is the biggest customer of Thai fish, and pet food is among the fastest growing wxports from Thailand, more than doubling since 2009 and last year totaling more than $190 milion.
The average pet cat in the USA eats 30 pounds (13,6 kg) of fish per year, about double that of a typical American.
...
Though there is growing pressure from Americans and other Western consumers for more accountability in seafood companies' supply chains to ensure against illegal fishing and contaminated or counterfeit fish, virtually no attention has focused on the labor that supplies the seafood that people eat, much less the fish that is fed to animals.
Do we really need to have forced labour and slavery to provide food to our pets in 2016?
The lack of marine laws, ways to control activities in the seas, and lack of traceability among seafood commodities that travel between countries, brings altogether serious social and environmental sustainability problems to seafood that we buy just around the corner.
Not less important are ethical issues.
I know that it is not that simple to decide what to buy when it comes to feed a pet.
But we can try to inform ourselves and find the best alternatives, which sometimes are not the most expensive choices.
It was revealed that large numbers of men are being bought and sold like animals and held against their will on fishing boats off Thailand to work in the production of prawns (commonly called shrimp in the US) sold in leading supermarkets around the world.
The news raise the discussion about seafood traceability and retailers as Carrefour took action in dissociating their supermarkets from a human exploitation and lack of human rights production source.
At this time the discussion was about prawns, an expensive and high value seafood product, but more is needed to discuss when it comes to Thai seafood industry for low quality standard as pet food:
The USA is the biggest customer of Thai fish, and pet food is among the fastest growing wxports from Thailand, more than doubling since 2009 and last year totaling more than $190 milion.
The average pet cat in the USA eats 30 pounds (13,6 kg) of fish per year, about double that of a typical American.
...
Though there is growing pressure from Americans and other Western consumers for more accountability in seafood companies' supply chains to ensure against illegal fishing and contaminated or counterfeit fish, virtually no attention has focused on the labor that supplies the seafood that people eat, much less the fish that is fed to animals.
Do we really need to have forced labour and slavery to provide food to our pets in 2016?
The lack of marine laws, ways to control activities in the seas, and lack of traceability among seafood commodities that travel between countries, brings altogether serious social and environmental sustainability problems to seafood that we buy just around the corner.
Not less important are ethical issues.
I know that it is not that simple to decide what to buy when it comes to feed a pet.
But we can try to inform ourselves and find the best alternatives, which sometimes are not the most expensive choices.