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Most of the food we eat on a daily basis comes from around the world.

Here at this Capitol Hill Safeway, bananas are from Ecuador, and oranges are imported from as far as South Africa.

But today, Multimedia Journalist Jaelynn Grisso is focusing on the people who ensure that food gets to the U.S.

Some often working an average of 100 hours a week to make it happen.

In 2025 alone, the Seattle and Tacoma ports saw nearly a million metric tons of food imported by boat, according to the USDA.

Everything we eat, everything we wear is coming from them.

But sometimes we don't see them because we see a truck driver, we see a taxi driver, we see even a captain or a pilot, but we don't see a seafarer.

Who are they?

The International Transport Workers' Federation is a global union focused on seafarers.

They provide resources and oversight for seafarers working conditions, which can mean going aboard ships when they're docked to talk directly with the workers.

Altaf described the typical working conditions for seafarers.

103 hours a week, they work.

Think of that.

No Christmas, no Thanksgiving, no Memorial Day, everyday working.

Same thing.

And that's when the job functions as it should.

But with limited oversight, ITF says workers' rights are often ignored.

They say one example right now is in the Strait of Hormuz, where ITF estimates 20,000 seafarers are trapped, and “in many cases running short of food, water and fuel.” Next time, we'll introduce you to the next generation of farmers bringing food production back to one of Vashon Island's last historic Japanese-American farmsteads.

I'm Paris Jackson.

Thank you for watching The Newsfeed.