Half of Cheetos workforce were children

Question

This twitter post claims that Cheetos lost half of its workforce due to a child labor raid. The workers were supposedly migrant children. Is this true? And is there an epidemic of migrant child labor?

Answer 1

The claim made by the Twitter post originated from information that was given in a New York Times article by Hannah Dreier. 

It's an account of different children of migrant families such as Carolina Yoc, a 15 year old who was working in the Cheeto factory in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

The article explains how many of these children are being used as workers, saying, "The factory was full of underage workers like Carolina, who had crossed the Southern border by themselves and were now spending late hours bent over hazardous machinery, in violation of child labor laws. At nearby plants, other children were tending giant ovens to make Chewy and Nature Valley granola bars and packing bags of Lucky Charms and Cheetos — all of them working for the processing giant Hearthside Food Solutions, which would ship these products around the country."

Also, the article accounted for this illegal child labor across the country, it said, "Migrant child labor benefits both under-the-table operations and global corporations, The Times found. In Los Angeles, children stitch “Made in America” tags into J. Crew shirts. They bake dinner rolls sold at Walmart and Target, process milk used in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and help debone chicken sold at Whole Foods. As recently as the fall, middle-schoolers made Fruit of the Loom socks in Alabama. In Michigan, children make auto parts used by Ford and General Motors." 

There is a lot more information within the article about how these companies were able to sneak around laws by not documenting the children as workers, leading to many undisclosed deaths and horrible treatment. 

I was not able to find any direct information that half of the workforce has disappeared. However, the author of the article did tweet out, "Hearthside Food Solutions—which makes and packages Cheetos, Cheerios and Chewy Bars—has begun going through its 39 factories to check for children. Workers say much of the staff has vanished overnight.". It seems as though based off the information given by Dreier's other sources working in the factories a large portion of the workforce was children.

Even without clear evidence of the exact amount of children working in the Cheeto factories, based on the fact that the main article where the claim was derived from had such clear and thorough evidence, I believe that part of the claim about the children in the work for is true, but that half the workforce was lost is exaggerated. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/us/unaccompanied-migrant-child-workers-exploitation.html

https://twitter.com/hannahdreier/status/1630651131486502912/photo/1

Comments

If the 1/2 amount cannot be substantiated, then it sounds more like Exaggerated/Misleading

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I understand! I didn't realize at first that would could as Exaggerated/Misleading, but I have changed it accordingly. Thank you for the comment, so I can improve my investigations.

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Very long and detailed fact-check. Good effort! Going forward, it would be totally appropriate to be briefer if you're able to. It's not necessary to go into extreme detail unless you need to. Overall, good work determining that the claim is misleading.

Answer 2

According to an article written by Lab 411, migrant child labor was found in brands such as cheerios and cheetos. The article not only describes child labor in the Cheetos brand, but with brands such as J.Crew, Ben and Jerry's, and Fruit of the Loom. The article on this website also quotes, “Underage workers in Grand Rapids said that spicy dust from immense batches of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos made their lungs sting," which indicates that there are underage workers in the Cheetos brand.

https://labor411.org/411-blog/migrant-child-labor-found-at-many-u-s-brands-like-cheerios-cheetos-and-fruit-of-the-loom/

Comments

So would you rate the claim that half of Cheetos' workforce is children as true then?

Answer 3

The claim made by Raphousetv is able to be proved. According to this article from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, "the Biden administration says it will  on the use of migrant child labor at U.S. plants and factories serving some of the nation’s biggest brand names." A few of the names that the article listed were Frito-Lay, Nature Valley, and Cheetos. The article further stresses the reasons why people support child labor and why many believe that it is morally wrong. With this in mind, it was surprising for many to discover that a big name brand, such as Cheeto, was behind the child labor scheme.

https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-big-name-brand-companies-benefit-illegally-from-migrant-child-labor/article_6e61aff7-5018-541f-a6c7-4675ddb83c0d.html

Comments

The claim is that half of the workforce at Cheetos is children. Based on your explanation, you're saying it is true? Do you have concrete data/information to support that?

Answer 4

Although I cannot find too many reputable sources on the matter, there were a few different sources claiming that companies such as Cheetos and Cheerios depend on child labor, especially that of migrant children. The petition site says, "A new investigation from the New York Times found that migrant children as young as 14 are working long shifts in dangerous conditions across the country. In a sick twist of irony, both Cheetos and Cheerios -- companies who market their products to children -- rely on child labor in their factories." And they continue, "Many of the children working in these tragically unethical conditions are migrants. At the intersection of vulnerability, migrant children are often more desperately in need of money to stay in the country or send funds back to their families in Latin America." Again I have yet to find a multiple super reputable sources addressing this issue specifically to the Cheetos company, but the numerous other sources lead me to believe this is not misinformation. 

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/272/789/955/cheetos-and-cheerios-are-made-with-child-labor.-will-the-department-of-labor-do-something-about-it/ 

Comments

Within your explanation, I don't see concrete evidence that shows half of Cheetos' workers are children -- can you elaborate how you rated the claim as true?