Correspondence
Email sent to Richard Walker, Managing Director, via Iceland press office.
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 a company engaged in such practices and your supply chain.
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 schemes which use coercive methods in worker enrollment.
The company Shandong Meijia Group has received persons from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China under the state-imposed labor transfer program as recently as 2020. Shandong Meijia Group’s website says that Iceland is an international partner of the group, and Meijia plant codes have been found on Iceland-branded seafood products.
Does Iceland have any comment or statement to make in light of the above information? Please respond to this email by close of business May 12, 2023."
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed Richard Walker, Managing Director, via Iceland's press office, saying: "Our investigation continues to surface additional questions in relation to your company’s supply chain, specifically your suppliers Nomad Foods and Young's Seafood.
Our research shows that Northseafood Holland and Unibond Seafood International are white fish suppliers to Nomad Foods brands, which include the Birds Eye, Findus and Iglo ranges retailing across Europe. Iceland stocks a range of Nomad Foods’ Birds Eye branded products containing white fish, including cod and pollock. Northseafood Holland has imported shipments of white fish, including pollock, from the processor, Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd., based in China. Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd. has received persons from the Xinjiang region of China under a government labor transfer program since 2019 and until at least April 2023.
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 also received persons transferred by the Chinese government from the Xinjiang region since 2020 and until at least May 2023.
Our research further shows that Unibond Seafood International is a white fish supplier to Young’s Seafood, which supplies Iceland with a range of Young’s branded products containing white fish as well as Iceland’s own-brand battered white fish fillets, according to packaging analysis.
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.
We have the following questions:
- Could you confirm whether white fish sourced from either Yantai Sanko Fisheries or Qingdao Tianyuan has been used in any of the Birds Eye branded products sold by Iceland since 2019?
- Could you confirm whether white fish sourced from Qingdao Tianyuan has been used in any of the Young’s Seafood branded products sold by Icealand since 2020?
- Could you confirm whether white fish sourced from Qingdao Tianyuan has been used in any Iceland own-brand products since 2020? Does Iceland have any comment or clarification to make regarding the above information, or in relation to our May 11, 2023, email concerning Shandong Meijia Group? Please let us know by close of business August 29, 2023."
The Outlaw Ocean Project's publishing partner in the UK, Sky News, contacted Iceland, saying: "We are working with Outlaw Ocean Project, an NGO, who have identified Uyghur people working at seafood factories in eastern China, as part of a government labour transfer program. Human rights advocates have warned that this scheme amounts to the forced labour of Uyghur people and other minorities from Xinjiang . We have identified Uyghur workers employed at Shandong Meijia Group. The company’s website says that Iceland is an international partner of the group, and Meijia plant codes have been found on Iceland-branded seafood products. We’d like to offer Iceland the right to reply. Please could you confirm whether Meijia is currently or has ever been a supplier to Iceland? If it is, do you have concerns over the possible use of Uyghur forced labour in their processing plants? Have you raised those concerns?"
Iceland replied: “We can confirm that Iceland is not, nor has not for a significant period, received any products from such sites. It is Iceland’s policy to be able to act responsibly in all commercial and trading activities to establish that the working conditions of people working for, and within the supply chain, meet relevant international standards. We expect that all suppliers of products and services to Iceland comply with the “ETI Base Code”, and this is also supported by working closely together with SEDEX, its members and our suppliers on wide-ranging issues such as the movement/relocation of Uyghur Muslims within China driven by Chinese government directives.”
The Outlaw Ocean Project's publishing partner in the UK, Sky News, asked Iceland to clarify if their statement of November 2, 2023, was confirmation they did once have a relationship with Meijia, and when and why they terminated it.