Correspondence
Email sent to two contact addresses for Rizhao Jiayuan Food Co. Ltd.
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. Shandong 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 as early as 2019. We have uncovered evidence of Uyghurs working at Rizhao Jiayuan Foodstuff Co. Ltd. in 2019 and as recently as October 2022.
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.
Rizhao Jiayuan Foodstuff’s international customers include companies in the U.S., where the importation of goods produced from state-imposed forced labor is prohibited.
Can you confirm or deny if Uyghurs have been employed at Rizhao Jiayuan’s plant any time over the last five years? Does Rizhao Jiayuan Foodstuff have any comment or statement to make in response to the above information? Please respond to this email by close of business September 7, 2023, and note that all interactions are fully on record."
Rizhao Jiayuan replied: "We are very shocked to receive this message. After verifying, our company does not have a phenomenon of unlawfully using workers from Xinjiang. Please make note of our reply above. Thank you!"
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "To clarify and reiterate: when we discuss these matters publicly, we are citing the existence of the government's transfer of workers from Xinjiang into key processing plants. U.S. law cites any such workers in a product’s supply chain as part of state-sponsored forced labor (even if the Chinese general public and law see it otherwise). The United Nations also holds the view that these transfers may constitute forced labor. If there is anything else you'd like to offer in response to our findings, please do let us know."
The company replied: "After repeated checks and confirmations by the company's human resources department, our company currently does not have any employees from Xinjiang."