What's in this guide
I have one rule that runs through every sourcing decision I make: if I won't feed it to my kids, I won't sell it. Garlic might seem like a minor ingredient, but in the Garlic & Herb flavor it's the main one. So where it comes from matters.
Most people have no idea that the garlic in their beef snacks (and in most packaged food, period) came from China. Not because anyone's hiding it exactly, but because nobody bothers to tell you. The supply chain is long, the labeling is loose, and the answer to "is Chinese garlic safe?" is harder to land than it should be.
Here's what I found out when I went looking, and what I decided to do about it.
- China produces about 73% of the world's garlic, and the U.S. imports roughly 70% of what it consumes, predominantly from China.
- Virtually all of that imported garlic moves through food-service distributors before it reaches manufacturers, with no farm-level traceability.
- Forced labor in Chinese garlic peeling is documented, not just rumor. The Financial Times and a Netflix investigation reported it, and in 2016 U.S. Customs blocked imports of Chinese peeled garlic over forced labor. It's documented in specific cases, not proven to be universal.
- The separate "grown in sewage" claim is the one with no evidence behind it. A U.S. senator also urged a federal investigation into Chinese garlic in December 2023.
- I could have sourced Chinese garlic for cheaper. I chose not to.
At a glance
A quick look at the garlic supply chain and what it means for what ends up in your food.
| Factor | Imported (China) | American-Grown |
|---|---|---|
| Share of U.S. imports | ~70% of consumption1 | Minority of supply |
| Farm-level traceability | Typically none | Available |
| Labeling at product level | Not required by ingredient | Disclosed by grower |
| Price to manufacturer | Lower | Higher |
| Labor/growing standards | Variable, hard to verify | U.S. labor law applies |
The garlic supply chain
America grows some of the best garlic in the world. California's Central Valley has been producing it for generations. But American garlic is more expensive to grow, and food manufacturers are not in the habit of paying more for something they can get cheaper somewhere else.
China produces roughly 73% of all garlic grown on the planet.1 The United States imports about 70% of what it consumes, and the dominant source is China.1 That's not a fringe thing. It's just the reality of how global commodity food works.
The path from a Chinese garlic farm to your beef snack is not direct. It runs through import brokers, food-service distributors, and ingredient suppliers. By the time garlic powder ends up in a seasoning blend, the paperwork that would tell you which farm it came from has long since been buried. The manufacturer knows who sold them the spice blend. They probably don't know which country, let alone which province or farm, the garlic came from.
The USITC has documented China's dominance of U.S. garlic imports extensively. The traceability gap is a structural feature of commodity ingredient supply chains, not a case-by-case failure.1
What the evidence actually shows
This is where I want to be careful, because the internet runs wild with this stuff and I only repeat what I can back up.
The forced-labor concern is real and documented. The Financial Times investigated Jinxiang, China's garlic capital, and reported prisoners being used to peel garlic. A Netflix investigation (the "Rotten" series) aired undercover footage of the same thing. And the most concrete piece: in 2016, U.S. Customs placed Chinese peeled garlic under a forced-labor import block, after a change in the law made that kind of enforcement possible.45 In December 2023, U.S. Senator Rick Scott added to the pressure, sending letters to the Commerce Department, USDA, and the U.S. Trade Representative urging a federal investigation into Chinese garlic on food-safety and labor grounds.2
I want to be straight about the limits, though. None of this proves that every clove of Chinese garlic is prison-peeled. It's documented in specific cases, not established as universal. The companies named in the Netflix episode denied it, and a U.S. court case over that footage went in the importer's favor. And the separate viral claim, that Chinese garlic is "grown in human sewage," is the one fact-checkers actually knocked down: the McGill University Office for Science and Society reviewed that specific claim and found no evidence for it.3
But I don't need the worst-case version of the story to make my decision. Documented forced labor in the supply chain, plus the fact that you can't trace where any of it came from, is more than enough.
The real problem
The honest answer to "is Chinese garlic safe?" is: we don't know with any certainty, and that's the point.
Not because Chinese garlic is definitively dangerous. But because the supply chain between a Chinese garlic farm and your food is opaque enough that you genuinely can't verify the growing conditions, the labor practices, or the handling at each stage. You're trusting a chain of distributors you've never heard of, across a supply line you can't trace.
Most beef snack brands, and most food manufacturers generally, source their garlic from a food-service ingredient supplier. That supplier is sourcing from wherever the commodity price is lowest. Ninety-nine percent of beef manufacturers I looked at when I was building this company source their garlic from a food-service manufacturer who's getting it from China. That's just how the industry works.
The ingredient label will say "garlic" or "garlic powder." It will not say "grown in Shandong province by a contractor whose practices we've never audited." That level of disclosure isn't required, so it doesn't happen.
Why I pay more
I could have easily sourced Chinese garlic for cheaper. The price difference is real, and it shows up in my margins. I decided I will not feed Chinese garlic to my kids, which means I won't sell it to yours either.
So I found an American garlic grower. I pay more for it. That cost is baked into the product.
American-grown garlic is subject to U.S. labor laws and U.S. agricultural standards. More importantly for my purposes, it's traceable. I can tell you it came from an American farm. I can't always tell you which farm of the many across this country, but I can tell you it didn't move through a six-layer import chain where accountability disappears at every handoff.
This is the same logic behind sourcing pasture-raised beef from Florida ranchers instead of commodity beef that could have come from anywhere. Traceability is the thing. When you can see where your food came from, you can make a real judgment about it. When you can't, you're just hoping.
The Garlic & Herb biltong is built on that same foundation as everything else we make: real ingredients, American sourcing where it's possible, and a standard I can actually defend to myself. You can see the full lineup at Farmer Bill's biltong collection. Or if you want to understand more about why air-dried beef made with simple ingredients is categorically different from conventional jerky, why biltong is a good place to start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chinese garlic safe to eat?
The straightforward answer is that no federal agency has declared Chinese garlic unsafe. The more honest answer is that the supply chain for imported commodity garlic lacks the traceability to verify growing conditions, labor practices, or handling at each stage. A U.S. senator called for a federal investigation in December 2023 citing food-safety and labor concerns. Until there's meaningful supply-chain transparency, you can't answer that question with confidence either way.
Where does most garlic in the U.S. come from?
China. The U.S. imports roughly 70% of the garlic it consumes, and China is the dominant source by a wide margin. China produces about 73% of total world garlic output. American-grown garlic exists. California in particular has a strong garlic-growing history, but it's a minority of the U.S. supply.
Why did a U.S. senator say Chinese garlic is a national security risk?
In December 2023, Senator Rick Scott sent letters to the Commerce Department, USDA, and the U.S. Trade Representative urging a federal investigation into Chinese garlic imports. His stated concerns included allegations of unsanitary production conditions, forced labor, and child labor in the supply chain. The letters received coverage from the BBC, Newsweek, and other outlets. No federal investigation has been publicly completed as of this writing.
Is Chinese garlic made with prison labor?
In documented cases, yes. The Financial Times and a Netflix investigation both reported prisoners peeling garlic in China, and in 2016 U.S. Customs placed Chinese peeled garlic under a forced-labor import block. That doesn't mean every clove is prison-peeled, and the specific footage in the Netflix episode was disputed by the companies it named. But it's a documented problem in the supply chain, not an internet myth. The harder issue is that you can't verify any of it at the ingredient level.
Is it true that Chinese garlic is grown in sewage or human waste?
That specific claim has circulated widely online. Researchers at the McGill University Office for Science and Society reviewed it and found no supporting evidence. I'm not going to repeat unverified claims in this article. The concerns I think are legitimate and documentable are about supply-chain traceability and labor standards, not the extreme versions of the story.
How can you tell if garlic in a product is American-grown?
Most of the time, you can't tell from the label. Ingredient labels are required to list "garlic" or "garlic powder" but not the country of origin at the ingredient level. If a brand is sourcing American-grown garlic specifically, they'll usually say so, because it's a point of differentiation. If they say nothing, it's a reasonable assumption that the garlic came through a commodity food-service supplier.
What garlic does Farmer Bill's use?
The Garlic & Herb biltong uses American-grown garlic. I sourced it specifically because garlic is the main seasoning ingredient in that flavor, and I held it to the same standard I hold everything else: if I won't feed it to my kids, I won't sell it. American-grown means I can verify it didn't travel through a five-layer import chain with no accountability at any step.
Does the country of origin of garlic actually affect the product?
It affects two things I care about: traceability and standards. American garlic is grown under U.S. labor law and U.S. agricultural regulations. It's also traceable back to an American source, which means accountability exists somewhere in the chain.
Imported commodity garlic, sourced from the cheapest available market, doesn't offer either of those things. Whether that translates to a measurable difference in the garlic powder itself is a harder question to answer, but for me the traceability question is settled before the chemistry question even comes up.
Why do most beef snack brands use Chinese garlic?
Price. Commodity garlic from food-service ingredient suppliers is cheaper than American-grown garlic, and most manufacturers are optimizing for margin. The garlic is buried deep enough in the ingredient list that most consumers don't think to ask.
I looked at what most beef snack manufacturers were doing when I was setting up sourcing for Farmer Bill's. The pattern was consistent: food-service garlic, Chinese origin, no one talking about it.
Is garlic from China banned or restricted in the U.S.?
No. Chinese garlic is legal to import and sell in the United States. There are tariffs on fresh garlic from China dating back to anti-dumping cases, but garlic powder and processed garlic used as food ingredients move through the supply chain routinely. The senator's December 2023 letters were a call for investigation, not a regulatory action.
Where can I find Farmer Bill's Garlic & Herb biltong?
The full product lineup is at Farmer Bill's biltong collection. If you want to compare options or put together a mixed order, the mix and match bundles page has you covered.
Sources
- U.S. International Trade Commission, Fresh Garlic from China, USITC, 2023. View ↩
- Office of U.S. Senator Rick Scott, press release urging a U.S. Commerce Department investigation into Chinese garlic imports, December 2023. View ↩
- McGill University Office for Science and Society, "Is it true that garlic in China is grown in human feces and watered with urine?", McGill University, 2023. View ↩
- South China Morning Post, "Did the US-China trade war start with a court case about Chinese garlic?" (prison-labor reporting and the Jinxiang trade case), 2019. View ↩
- Congressional Research Service, "Section 307 and U.S. Imports of Products of Forced Labor" (the U.S. forced-labor import ban; CBP has issued Withhold Release Orders on Chinese peeled garlic). View ↩