Trader Ming’s’: Trader Joe’s Faces Backlash for Racist Labeling of Cultural Foods

Trader Joe’s is facing backlash again for its labeling after a TikToker called the popular grocers’ label choice “racist.”

A TikToker named Kyi, under the username @kyeatdaays, called out Trader Joe’s and reignited the debate over the way it chooses names for cultural foods in a now-viral video.

Kyi used the social media trend of “POV” or point of view to talk about different culturally packaged foods including frozen Mandarin Orange Chicken, which is branded as “Trader Ming’s.”

Despite having less than 200 followers, Kyi’s video garnered over 2.1 million views, 150,000 likes and thousands of comments.

“POV: U just found out Trader Joe’s does THIS to cultural foods,” the caption of her video said.

While some noted that the company has stereotypical labeling for each culture including, Trader Giottos for Italian Food, Trader Joe-San for Japanese, and Trader Jose for Hispanic, others defended the company’s labeling choices.

“I thought they were all traders that know each other and sell each other their own foods,” one commenter said.

The labels on Trader Joe's cultural foods first garnered negative attention in 2020, when petitions called on Trader Joe’s to change its labels in 2020 or face boycotts. 

According to CNN, at least 5,000 people signed a petition created by a San Francisco high school student in 2020 that urged the store to chain racist branding names, including “Trader José” “Trader Ming’s” and “San Joe” on some of its international food products.

At the time of the petition, a spokesperson said the company was already in the process of having those labels changed, but shortly after the company announced the names would remain and that it did not find them to be racist.

“We want to be clear: we disagree that any of these labels are racist. We do not make decisions based on petitions,” the grocery store said in a statement on July 24.

“Decades ago, our Buying Team started using product names, like Trader Giotto’s, Trader José’s, Trader Ming’s, etc. We thought then — and still do — that this naming of products could be fun and show appreciation for other cultures,” it continued.

Trader Joe’s has more than 560 stores in 43 states. In the last several years it has made headlines for not only its alleged racist packaging but culturally appropriating or white-washing foods.