Correspondence
Email sent to Labeyrie Fine Foods, parent company of Delpierre, saying: "Since we were last in contact with Labeyrie Fine Foods (LFF) in September 2023, our investigation has uncovered further evidence of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry which we want to bring to your attention as they relate to the LFF brand, Delpierre. We have uncovered evidence that two Chinese companies, Dandong Haimeng and Donggang Jinhui, have used North Korean labor after the December 2019 deadline for the repatriation of overseas North Korean workers required under United Nations Security Council sanctions. This evidence shows the presence of North Korean labor at factories in Liaoning, China, belonging to each of the companies, as recently as 2023. According to our research, Dandong Haimeng has supplied MSC-certified pollock to Delpierre, and Donggang Jinjui has supplied MSC-certified cod to Delpierre. While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we wanted to ask: 1. Does Labeyrie Fine Foods or Delpierre have any comment to make in response to this email? 2. Can you confirm if any seafood products supplied to Delpierre by Dandong Haimeng have been supplied to Carrefour, Système U, or Franprix since December 2019? 3. Can you confirm if any seafood products supplied to Delpierre by Donggang Jinhui have been supplied to Intermarché, Smood, Cora, Migros or Magasin Stalingrad in France, or to MatchDrive in Luxembourg since December 2019? Please respond to this email by close of business November 27, 2023, noting that all interactions remain on record. We very much appreciate Labeyrie Fine Foods’ continued engagement with us on the issues raised by our ongoing investigation."
Labeyrie Fine Foods replied: "Our sincere apology for not meeting your deadline as I have only just been notified of your mail (unfortunate circumstances as I was doing some field work with no access to emails). We will come back to you by the end of the week if that’s all right. In the meantime, do not hesitate to contact us, should you have any further queries."
Labeyrie Fine Foods replied: "Your email is extremely concerning, and we thank you for bringing the matter to our attention. As a responsible organisation and member of FNET (Food Network of Ethical Trade), we take very seriously the working conditions of any personnel involved in the production of our products. We promote and commit to respect the International Labour Organization (ILO) declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work, as well as the ETI Base code. As previously shared and to ensure that working conditions meet our aims and objectives we communicate our Code of Conduct for Suppliers to all our suppliers and ask them all to commit to our Ethical Trading policies. In addition, our auditing and compliance team has a thorough process to identify and assess risks within our supply chains, a critical part of the approval of any LFF suppliers. Nevertheless, we encourage anyone to report potential violation to our code, and your allegations and on-going research/investigation have just done that. We are therefore (and since the first reports early summer) looking at ways of strengthening our processes with several stakeholders."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "Thank you for your email and for that statement. There are still some outstanding questions from our query dated November 21, 2023: 1. Can you confirm if any seafood products supplied to Delpierre by Dandong Haimeng have been supplied to Carrefour, Système U, or Franprix since December 2019? 2. Can you confirm if any seafood products supplied to Delpierre by Donggang Jinhui have been supplied to Intermarché, Smood, Cora, Migros or Magasin Stalingrad in France, or to MatchDrive in Luxembourg, since December 2019? Also, you note in your email of December 1, 2023, that LFF’s “auditing and compliance team has a thorough process to identify and assess risks within our supply chains”. Can you clarify what audits were conducted at each of the plants Dandong Haimeng and Donggang Jinhui, and when?"
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed: "As we hadn't heard back from you on this, we wanted to check in on these outstanding questions. To clarify: The first supply company in question is called Donggang Haimeng Foodstuff, based in Dandong City, Liaoning, China."