Correspondence
Email sent to the media relations team at McDonald's USA.
The email said that suppliers to McDonald's, including High Liner and Nissui, in Canada, the United States and Japan have imported from Chinese companies linked to Uyghur workers. High Liner has imported shipments of cod, pollock, haddock, yellowfin sole, ocean perch and flounder from Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd., a seafood processor 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. High Liner has also imported shipments of yellowfin sole from Yantai Longwin Foods Co. Ltd. Yantai Longwin is linked to Yantai Sanko through corporate ownership. The Outlaw Ocean Project said that in an email dated August 16, 2023, High Liner Foods stated that all pollock supplied to McDonald’s Canada was processed in Alaska, U.S., and Nova Scotia, Canada. The Outlaw Ocean Project also said that J.P. Klausen is owned by Nissui Corporation and our research indicates the company has supplied white fish to McDonald’s in Europe. J.P. Klausen imported white fish from Qingdao Tianyuan in 2019. The Outlaw Ocean Project's investigation has found Uyghurs working at Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Products since 2018 and as recently as May 2023. Other Nissui Corporation subsidiaries, including Cité Marine and Nordic Seafood, have also imported white fish from Qingdao Tianyuan. J.P. Klausen has also imported white fish from Qingdao Lian Yang Aquatic Product Co. Ltd., another Chinese seafood processor linked to Qingdao Tianyuan through corporate ownership, in 2022. The investigation also found Uyghurs working at Qingdao Lian Yang as recently as 2023. Other Nissui Corporation subsidiaries, including Cité Marine, have also imported white fish from Qingdao Lian Yang Aquatic Products. Finally, the email said that global McDonald’s suppliers are broadly exposed to the seafood processing industry in Shandong province, China. The investigation has documented how the Shandong government has used Xinjiang labor transfers to fill labor demands in seafood processing factories over the last five years, under the auspices of the ‘Xinjiang Aid’ paired assistance program. Additionally, the investigation found that the global white fish supply chain specifically, including in North America and Europe, is exposed to multiple Chinese seafood processors that are benefiting from Xinjiang forced labor. Major Chinese suppliers of species such as cod, pollock, yellowfin sole, and other white fish species have been linked to the employment of Uyghur workers from 2018 to as recently as May 2023. The email asked if McDonald’s can confirm it is confident that no Uyghur forced labor exists in its Filet-o-Fish or other seafood menu offerings served at all global restaurant locations.
The Outlaw Ocean Project sent an additional email asking for McDonald's to send any comment or clarification by close of business September 4, 2023, noting all interactions are fully on record.
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed McDonald's, saying: "Our ongoing investigation into the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry has uncovered new evidence, specifically of North Korean workers in Chinese plants. 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. As part of this work, we have information that as recently as December 2023, there were 50-70 workers at Dalian Haiqing Food Co. Ltd.
According to trade records, Trident Seafoods Corporation was the consignee for shipments of seafood, including pollock, from Dalian Haiqing between October 2017 and December 2023. The use of North Korean workers was prohibited by the United Nations Security Council in 2017, with Resolution 2397. Furthermore, 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. Like the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which pertains to Xinjiang labor, CAATSA has a ""rebuttable presumption"" whereby all North Korean workers are presumed to be state-sponsored forced labor.
We understand from industry coverage that Trident supplies pollock to McDonald’s for the Filet-O-Fish sandwich for the Asian market, and have several questions for McDonald’s: 1. While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we want to ask if McDonald’s has any comment about this information that we are presenting? 2. Has seafood from Dalian Haiqing been supplied to McDonald’s, by Trident or any other supplier, since August 2017? 3. What processes does McDonald’s have in place to check for the presence of forced labor at any point in its supply chain? 4. Are you aware of any social audits being conducted at this seafood plant and if so what type, when, with what result, and were these audits unannounced? If audits were indeed conducted at this plant, what - if any - language or process was included in those audits specifically to identify the presence of North Korean workers?"
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed: "We last contacted you on January 19, 2024, regarding our ongoing investigation into the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry. We have additional findings which we want to raise with McDonald’s. As detailed in our email to you dated January 19, 2024, we have information that as recently as December 2023, there were 50-70 North Korean workers at Dalian Haiqing Food Co. Ltd. According to trade records, Espersen was the consignee for shipments of seafood, including pollock, from Dalian Haiqing in 2021. Documents on Espersen’s website say that the company supplies fish for McDonald’s restaurants in 42 countries, mainly in Europe. In light of this, we have some questions for McDonald’s: We wanted to ask if McDonald’s has any comment to make in response to this, or our previous, email? Can you confirm or deny if McDonald’s has been supplied by Espersen with any product from Dalian Haiqing?"