Correspondence
Email sent to the import manager at Fastnet Fish Ltd.
The email said: "I’m contacting Fastnet Fish Ltd. 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 a company engaged in such practices and your supply chain.
Fastnet Fish Ltd.’s supplier Rizhao Jiayuan Foodstuff Co. Ltd. is a Meijia Group company. The Meijia Group has received persons from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China under a state-imposed labor transfer program.
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 leave employment. The U.S. has prohibited the importation of goods produced from state-imposed forced labor.
Does Fastnet Fish have any comment or statement to make in light of the above information?"
Cara Almasri, Technical Manager at Fastnet Fish, replied: "Firstly, please allow me to thank you for contacting Fastnet Fish in light of your latest investigation!
We approved Rizhao Jiayuan Foodstuff Co. Ltd. based on them being GFSI certified along with being Sedex members and having a Smeta audit, so we are horrified learning of Rizhao Jiayuan Foodstuff Co. Ltd. receiving persons from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under China’s state-imposed Labor transfer program! We last purchased from them in May 2022 and most of it was rejected for poor quality.
Effective immediately, we have removed Rizhao Jiayuan Foodstuff Co. Ltd. from our approved supplier’s matrix, we have stopped all future purchases from Rizhao Jiayuan Foodstuff Co. Ltd.
Additionally we have notified our supplier Wofco, of this to ensure that we no longer receive products from Rizhao Jiayuan Foodstuff Co. Ltd. and/or any other factories being part of the Meijia Group."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "Thank you very much for your engagement with our query and for alerting us to the actions you've taken in response to the information we've provided. Could you go into more detail about the quality issues you identified in your May 2022 order? We'd be interested to hear as well whether those quality issues were a surprise to your company, given the GFSI certification. Please could you also disclose the date(s) of SMETA audit, the SMETA auditors and, if you're able, share any related audit reports or corrective action plans?"
Cara Almasri of Fastnet Fish replied with further details of the product quality issues found with their previous order which resulted in product being rejected by Fastnet Fish.
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed Fastnet Fish: "We were last in contact with Fastnet Fish in June 2023 regarding our investigation into the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry. Since then, our ongoing investigation has found additional evidence which we wanted to bring to your attention.
We have investigators on the ground in China who have been engaging with labor brokers directly involved with the transfer of North Korean workers to factories in China. Through this and other investigative means, including collecting online footage from the plants and interviews with workers recently returned to North Korea from China, we’ve found large numbers of North Korean workers at a range of seafood processing plants in Liaoning province, on China’s border with North Korea.
We have information that as recently as December 2023, there were 50-70 workers at Dalian Haiqing Food Co. Ltd. in Liaoning.
The use of overseas North Korean workers was prohibited by the United Nations Security Council in 2017, with Resolution 2397 setting a deadline of December 2019 for the repatriation of all such workers to North Korea. Under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), passed in 2017, the United States prohibits the import of any goods produced by North Korean nationals unless clear and convincing evidence is provided that indicates the materials were not made with forced labor.
According to trade records seen by The Outlaw Ocean Project, Fastnet Fish was the consignee for multiple shipments of seafood, including Alaska pollock, from Dalian Haiqing between June 2020 and April 2023.
In light of this, we have some questions for Fastnet Fish:
- While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we want to ask if Fastnet Fish has any comment to make in response to this email?
- Has Fastnet Fish supplied any seafood from Dalian Haiqing to Young’s Seafood?"