A groundbreaking investigation conducted by researchers at Tufts University’s Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in collaboration with the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab and School of Geography has unveiled a deeply unsettling layer beneath the surface of what many Americans consider healthy eating. While nutritional value and cost are often primary factors guiding food choices, this pioneering study reveals that the procurement of ingredients integral to recommended healthy U.S. diets may conceal troubling associations with forced labor practices. This revelation raises urgent questions about the ethical implications of dietary guidance widely adopted across the United States.
The study, meticulously published in the prestigious journal Nature Food on October 8, 2025, undertook a comprehensive risk assessment of forced labor within the supply chains of over two hundred common foods that typify American diets. Researchers analyzed five distinct dietary patterns: three federally recommended diets—the Healthy U.S.-Style Diet, the Healthy Mediterranean-Style Diet, and the Healthy Vegetarian Diet—as well as the 2019 EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet, alongside the current average American diet based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. This exhaustive evaluation entailed correlating each food’s production characteristics—such as cultivation techniques, geographic origin, harvesting methods, and processing practices—with internationally recognized indicators of forced labor risk.
Forced labor, as defined by the International Labor Organization, includes a spectrum of coercive practices that trap workers in exploitative employment through isolation, oppressive recruitment debt, withheld wages, and abusive or hazardous conditions. The study integrated these criteria with data from the Social Hotspots Database and other labor rights resources to generate a nuanced risk profile for each food item, highlighting how modern food systems, despite promoting healthful eating, may inadvertently perpetuate human rights violations at the labor level.
One of the study’s pivotal findings is that the forced labor risk associated with dietary patterns fluctuates primarily due to the relative consumption of fruits, dairy products, and red meat. Protein sources emerged as the dominant contributors to forced labor risk across the evaluated diets, yet the drivers of such risk differ significantly based on the type of protein and production process. Specifically, livestock farming-related risks were comprehensively accounted for, including those linked to feed production, animal slaughter, and meat processing operations. Alarmingly, the fishing sector was identified as maintaining a substantially heightened forced labor risk compared to other food production sectors, underscoring vulnerabilities intrinsic to maritime labor conditions.
Fruits such as berries and other varieties that necessitate manual harvesting—and nuts requiring labor-intensive shelling procedures—were additionally highlighted as elevated risk commodities. This reflects the entrenched reliance on hand labor in sectors where machine harvesting is less feasible, and where workers are often subjected to exploitative employment structures. Such complexity brings forth nuanced challenges in aligning ethical labor practices with sustainable diet recommendations.
The Healthy Mediterranean-Style Diet, characterized by a predominance of plant-based foods, seafood, moderate dairy, and red meat consumption, alongside the Healthy U.S.-Style Diet—which emphasizes a diverse nutrient-dense food profile with a relatively substantial intake of dairy—demonstrated a higher collective forced labor risk than the current average American diet. In these patterns, the convergence of dairy, red meat, and seafood was elucidated as significantly elevating labor exploitation risk profiles. Similarly, fruit consumption also contributed to this heightened risk panorama, particularly in the Mediterranean pattern, indicating a complex interplay between health-conscious eating and labor justice.
Conversely, the Healthy Vegetarian Diet and the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet, both emphasizing plant-based ingredients with limited animal product inclusion, evidenced comparatively lower forced labor risks. However, these diets were not devoid of risk, with nuts and seeds identified as sources of outsized labor exploitation vulnerabilities. This underscores that even predominantly plant-based diets are not immune to ethical supply chain complexities and require careful scrutiny to ensure responsible sourcing and worker protections.
The implications of these findings transcend individual consumer choices, bearing substantial ramifications for large-scale food purchasing policies and public health strategies. Given that dietary guidelines influence the nutritional standards of millions through institutional programs such as school meals, government food procurement, and city-level sustainability initiatives, incorporating forced labor risk assessments into policy frameworks represents a critical frontier in advancing food justice.
Lead researchers emphasize that eradication of forced labor within food systems necessitates worker empowerment and institutional accountability. Legal mechanisms enforcing worker protections, binding agreements preventing retaliation, and participatory governance models are central to fostering sustainable and equitable labor standards. Programs like the Fair Food Program exemplify how direct worker involvement can catalyze meaningful change, offering scalable models for reform.
Furthermore, international trade regulations restricting imports tainted by forced labor are vital in reshaping global commodity chains. Such measures can incentivize corporations to adopt higher social responsibility standards and inhibit unfair competition derived from exploitative practices, ultimately contributing to leveling the field for ethical production.
This study represents a seminal contribution to the emerging discourse at the intersection of nutrition, ethics, and labor rights. By uncovering the hidden human costs embedded within current dietary paradigms, the research encourages a holistic reconsideration of food policy—where health, sustainability, and social justice are integrated imperatives. It invites stakeholders across government, industry, and civil society to collaboratively engineer food systems that safeguard workers’ dignity while promoting public health and planetary well-being.
In sum, as consumers increasingly prioritize health and environmental stewardship in their food choices, it is imperative that these values extend beyond nutrition to encompass the ethical dimensions of labor. Recognizing and addressing the persistent prevalence of forced labor in food supply chains is not merely a moral obligation but a foundational step toward truly sustainable and just food systems.
Subject of Research: People
Article Title: The Human Cost of Healthy Eating
News Publication Date: 8-Oct-2025
Web References: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01242-8
References: Sparks, J.D., Blackstone, N.T. et al. (2025). The Human Cost of Healthy Eating. Nature Food. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-025-01242-8
Keywords: Food science, Agriculture, Sustainable agriculture, Agricultural policy
