A LIME PRODUCER certified by GlobalG.A.P, a globally recognized label for good agricultural practices, has been added to Brazil’s Dirty List for slave labor, which the Brazilian labor ministry (MTE) updated this Wednesday (April 9). Published by the MTE since November 2003, the list makes public the names of individuals and legal entities held responsible for subjecting workers to conditions analogous to slavery.

Valdinei Aparecido Roque is the owner of Peru Comercial Exportadora de Frutas, a company that has sold limes to major distributors in the international market. In February 2024, he was cited for keeping 20 workers—including a teenager—in conditions analogous to slavery according to Brazil’s law on Fazenda Pedra Negra, a property leased by the farmer in Aparecida do Taboado, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

According to Labor inspectors who inspected the farm, the rescued workers were not formally ed and harvested limes without protective equipment. For nine days, the group was housed in a corral before being moved to a house in the urban area of the city, according to worker testimonies.

Even after being notified by the authorities, Roque remained certified as a GlobalG.A.P producer in the city of Itajobi, São Paulo state, where the Peru Frutas company is headquartered, according to documents accessed by Repórter Brasil.

GlobalG.A.P’s guidelines include standards related to worker health and well-being as part of the certification requirements. On its website, the certification program states that it is the global leader in promoting “safer and more responsible farming practices in over 135 countries around the world.”

“We’re talking about one of the most severe human rights violations – slave labor. And this is not the first employer cited and likely won’t be the last to whom certifiers have granted their seal,” said Fernanda Drummond, Socioenvironmental Rights Advocacy Advisor at the NGO Conectas. “As long as the certification process remains unclear, we will continue to have audits carried out for commercial value rather than genuine concern about correcting issues,” she added.

Roque told Repórter Brasil that he had not received any inquiries from the certifier following the rescue. Over the phone, the producer explained that he operated under different business registrations in Mato Grosso do Sul and in Itajobi, where he has the certified operation.

The businessman claimed he had hired a contractor to assemble a harvesting team at Fazenda Pedra Negra and was unaware of the workers’ conditions. “I hired the wrong person. I was a victim, just like they were,” he alleged. He also claimed that in Itajobi, he pays workers above-average wages and s social initiatives for local communities.

ed last week, GlobalG.A.P stated on Wednesday (April 9) that Roque’s certification was no longer active. Until Monday (April 7), however, the certification still showed as valid on GlobalG.A.P’s website, as verified by Repórter Brasil. After the publication of the article, the certificacion program said the certification remained active due to a “technical issue” in the system.

GlobalG.A.P also said it condemns social and labor rights abuses. “At the same time, we must emphasize that most of the observations that you describe are criminal acts that are outside the scope of all certification systems. Criminal acts fall under the jurisdiction of the law enforcement authorities.” Read the full response here.

Lawsuit demands 790,000 USD for moral damages

In addition to the citation by the MTE, which led to the producer’s inclusion on the Dirty List, Roque is also the target of a Public Civil Action filed last Thursday (April 3) by the Labor Prosecutor’s Office of Mato Grosso do Sul (MPT-MS).

In the suit, the MPT-MS demands that Roque pay 4.7 million BRL (790,000 USD) in individual and collective moral damages for violating human dignity. “The defendant’s intent is irrefutable. It is evident that he sought to profit criminally through the inhumane exploitation of workers,” stated labor prosecutor Claudia Fernanda Noriler Silva in the complaint.

Export-grade limes

Customs data accessed by Repórter Brasil show a history of commercial relationships between Peru Comercial Exportadora De Frutas and major distributors in Europe.

Four Seasons Harvest, a global player in the fruit market, imported limes from Peru Frutas, receiving shipments in London. The company is part of the British Dole group. On its website, Dole outlines supply chain sustainability policies that include anti-slavery guidelines.

Four Seasons was ed for comment on its commercial relationship with Peru Frutas but did not respond to Repórter Brasil’s inquiries.

Dole, for its part, stated that it worked in 2024 with two third-party exporters who supplied products from Peru Frutas but have been formally assured by both exporters “that no Dole bound produce was sourced from the farm specifically referenced in your query.” The company added: “Further, it is our understanding that produce from that particular farm is not exported.”

Another international client of Peru Frutas was Jaguar The Fresh Company, which also promotes sustainable supply chain policies. The distributor, headquartered in the Netherlands, operates in Europe, Africa, China, and Chile.

When asked, Jaguar said it had not recently made direct purchases from Peru Frutas but did not clarify whether its last purchase occurred before or after the labor violations were discovered. The company confirmed, however, that one of its suppliers had received products from Peru Frutas and that it would investigate the matter. It also stated that GlobalG.A.P certification is “our first benchmark for social conditions,” and that this certification was considered in the producer’s assessment.

You can read all the companies’ full responses here.

Roque told Repórter Brasil that he had stopped exporting before the slave labor citation. However, even after the rescue, the company continued to post ments on social media promoting certified limes sold to various European countries.

Workers had no bathrooms, food, or protection

The rescued workers were recruited for the lime harvest in Itajobi, 288 kilometers from Aparecida do Taboado, and were taken to Mato Grosso do Sul by a labor contractor, according to interviews given to Repórter Brasil and testimony to labor inspectors.

“It sounded great. They said we’d be paid well, have proper lodging, everything by the book. For us, who work in the fields, when a chance comes up to earn a bit more, it’s attractive,” said one of the rescued workers, interviewed under anonymity.

Upon arrival at Fazenda Pedra Negra, they were housed in a corral with only a roof overhead and no bathrooms. After nine days, they were moved to an accommodation in the city where beds were crammed into a windowless shed. According to the worker, the bathrooms lacked flush systems or showers, and the cold water came out of a pipe.

The workers also reported they were only given lunch and dinner, with no breakfast provided during lime picking. “Sometimes we just sat and waited for lunch because we couldn’t work anymore. A lot of guys got sick,” one worker recounted. “I had to call my wife and ask her to send me 200 BRL (33,6 USD) because I had nothing to eat,” said another.

According to the inspection report, they worked without protective equipment. One of the rescued workers testified to the Labor Ministry that he injured his eye on a limes tree thorn during harvest and went two days without medical assistance. He was only taken to urgent care after the other workers refused to continue working unless he got help. He also said he was instructed to lie during the appointment, saying he was not working.

On the day of the inspection, according to workers interviewed by Repórter Brasil, the supervisor in charge of the group tried to hide the lodging site and asked the workers to leave, but they refused.

Roque received 22 citations for the violations found. The Ministry of Labor also found irregularities in the storage of pesticides used on the farm and in electrical installations, both on the property and in the worker accommodations.

After the rescue, the employer paid labor compensations and signed a Conduct Adjustment Agreement, committing to comply with the law.

About the Dirty List

The Dirty List for slave labor is updated semiannually by the MTE. Names are added after employers notified in federal inspections have exercised their right to defense in two istrative instances, and they remain on the list for two years. They may move to an observation list by fulfilling a series of criteria and reparations.

Although the regulation for the Dirty List does not impose commercial or financial restrictions on those listed, banks and companies use the list for risk management purposes, both in Brazil and abroad. For this reason, the United Nations considers it a global example in the fight against slavery.

In the latest update released this Wednesday, the economic activities with the highest number of new employers on the list were cattle ranching (21), coffee cultivation (20), domestic work (18), charcoal production (10), and extraction of various minerals (7). With this update, the list now includes a total of 745 names (see the full list here).

Slave labor in Brazil today

The Áurea law abolished formal slavery in May 1888, meaning Brazil no longer legally recognizes the ownership of another person. However, situations have persisted where individuals are treated as disposable labor tools and denied freedom and dignity.

Since the 1940s, Brazilian law has provided for the punishment of such crimes. These situations are known as contemporary slavery, or conditions analogous to slavery.

According to Article 149 of the Penal Code, four elements can characterize modern slavery in Brazil: forced labor (which involves restriction of movement), debt bondage (captivity tied to often fraudulent debts), degrading conditions (work that denies human dignity and endangers health and life), or exhausting workdays (intense exploitation that leads to complete worker exhaustion, also endangering health and life).

The more than 65,000 rescued workers have been found on cattle, soybean, cotton, coffee, fruit, yerba mate, potato, onion, and sisal farms; in the clearing of native forests; in charcoal production for steelmaking; in kaolin and mineral extraction; in construction; sewing workshops; brothels; and domestic work, among other sectors.

CORRECTION: this text was amended on April 15 at 10:20 a.m. to correct the use of the term “lemon” for “lime”, the citrus variety grown by the producer mentioned in the article and the term “certifier” for “certification program” to reffer to GlobalG.A.P.