Correspondence
Email sent to the president, owner and vice-president of operations at Southstream Seafoods.
The email said: "We’re contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s food processing industry.
Trade records show that Southstream Seafoods Inc. imported dozens of shipments of pollock from a processor in China called Qingdao Tianyuan in 2019 and 2018. Qingdao Tianyuan has received persons transferred from the Xinjiang region of China under a government labor transfer program since 2018 and until at least May 2023.
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. The U.S. has prohibited the importation of goods produced from state-imposed forced labor.
Does Southstream Seafoods have any comment or clarification to make regarding the above information?
Can you confirm if any pollock from Qingdao Tianyuan was supplied by Southstream Seafoods to Captain D’s? Please let us know by close of business September 22, 2023, noting that all exchanges are fully on record."