Correspondence
Letter was mailed to Morgan Foods Inc.
The letter said: "I’m contacting Morgan Foods Inc. 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. Morgan Food Inc.’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 the 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 schemes 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 Morgan Foods Inc. have any comment or statement to make in light of the above information? Please let me know by July 20, 2023."
A letter was sent to Morgan Foods via registered mail, saying: "My name is Susan Ryan and I’m a research and investigations editor at The Outlaw Ocean Project, a journalism non-profit that publishes stories about human rights and environmental issues connected with the sea. Our director, Ian Urbina, wrote to Morgan Foods in July 2023 regarding our investigation into the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry.
We are contacting you now in light of our research on the practice of ‘flagging in’, whereby fishing vessels owned by companies in one country are flagged to another country in order to access that second country’s waters. We are not indicating explicitly or implicitly that flagging-in is illegal, we are just taking a look at the issue of flagging-in globally.
Trade records show that Morgan Foods Inc. was the consignee for multiple shipments of seafood from Rongcheng Guangrun Aquatic Foods between 2019 and 2022. Rongcheng Guangrun is part of a Chinese corporation called Shandong Bodelong Group.
Records indicate that Shandong Bodelong Group is the beneficial owner of dozens of fishing vessels flagged to Ghana and Argentina. Bodelong Group vessels have fished illegally in the South Atlantic and the South Pacific Oceans, and have disembarked at least two dead deckhands in the Port of Montevideo, in 2016 and 2019. One vessel also disembarked an ill deckhand in Montevideo in 2020 who had symptoms of beriberi, a sign of severe neglect.
While we understand that Morgan Foods may not be aware of any of the above information, we wish to ask if Morgan Foods has any comment to make in response to this letter?
Please let us know by Monday, July 22, 2024, noting that all interactions remain on record."