Correspondence
Email sent to the press office of Aldi U.K.
The email said: "I’m contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s food processing industry, and a link we’ve discovered between companies engaged in such practices and one of Aldi's suppliers - Young’s Seafood.
Our research shows that Unibond Seafood International is a white fish supplier to Young’s Seafood, which supplies Aldi with own-brand products containing white fish, such as The Fishmonger Crispy Battered Fish Fingers and Everyday Essentials Fish Fingers.
Unibond Seafood has imported shipments of white fish, including cod and pollock, from Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Foodstuffs Co. Ltd., a supplier based in China. Qingdao Tianyuan has received persons transferred by the Chinese government from the Xinjiang region since 2020 and until at least May 2023.
The United Nations, human rights organizations and academic experts agree that since 2018, the Chinese government has systematically subjected Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities to forced labor across the country via state-sanctioned employment programs which use coercive methods in worker enrollment and obstruct freedom to terminate employment.
Could you confirm whether white fish sourced from Qingdao Tianyuan has been used in any of the Aldi white fish products supplied by Young’s Seafood since 2020?
Does Aldi have any comment or clarification to make regarding the above information? Please let us know by close of business August 29, 2023."