In the…countryside…[in] southern Italy…[t]he slums are…home to several hundred migrant workers about to harvest the region's abundant tomato crop. Every August, thousands of itinerants, mostly from Africa, some from Eastern Europe, descend on southern Italy to scratch a living picking tomatoes that will…be…exported across Europe...[A]n Ecologist investigation has revealed how the lucrative trade is blighted by exploitation and abuse: workers – some of them illegal immigrants – are forced to toil for up to 14 hours a day picking tomatoes in harsh conditions for meagre wages, frequently under the control of a network of gangmasters who make excessive deductions or charge inflated rates for transport, accommodation, food….Those complaining can face violence and intimidation. Workers frequently live in appalling squalor: home is often a derelict building without power or any form of effective sanitation…So bad are the living and working conditions endured by the migrants that campaigners have dubbed them 'Europe's tomato slaves'...Leading suppliers deny any involvement in the migrant workers scandal [Includes comments by Conserve Italia, La Doria, LDH (part of La Doria), Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose (part of John Lewis Partnership). Also refers to Morrison's.]