Correspondence
Email sent to the contact address for Valio Foods GmbH.
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, and a link we’ve discovered between a company engaged in such practices and your supply chain.
Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd., which supplies seafood products, including yellowfin sole and Pacific rockfish, to Valio Food GmbH’s Aqua Queen brand, has received persons from the Xinjiang region of China under a state-imposed labor transfer program as recently as 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 schemes which use coercive methods in worker enrollment. The U.S. has prohibited the importation of goods produced from state-imposed forced labor.
Does Valio GmbH have any comment or statement to make in light of the above information? Does Valio supply any Yantai Sanko products to McDonald’s? Please respond to this email by close of business June 26, 2023."
Merle Meiners, Purchasing and Key Account Manager at Valio, replied with a statement from the Group CEO, Oliver Winter. The statement said: "We refer to your media query from Thursday, 22 June 2023 concerning the Chinese company Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd which is suspected to be involved in forced labor. The query states that there is a link between this company and Valio as well as a link between Valio and McDonald’s.
In September 2019 and December 2020, Valio Food GmbH, which is a 100% subsidiary of Valio Hamburg group, received two deliveries of Frozen MSC Redfish fillet, which was produced at Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd via a Chinese broker company. The deliveries are not related to our brand called Aqua Queen at all. We did not receive any delivery of yellowfin sole from Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd at any time. We do not have a regular supply relationship with this factory and did not receive any further deliveries since December 2020.
We take responsibility for our supply chain and have a defined procedure for the supplier approval and management process. This is also verified on an annual basis via a third‐party certification body, such as IFS Broker.
As part of the supplier approval and management process, we work with an extensive questionnaire, in which we, among other things, ask for a confirmation that all legal requirements are met and that the supplier is approved by the European Union for export into EU. In addition, we ask for Social Standard certifications. During the time of deliveries, Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd was certified according to the SMETA 4 Pillar by Bureau Veritas. We received the Corrective Action Plan Report (CAPR) in 2019. This report gives no reason to believe that this company is associated with forced labor. Since more than 90 years, we are committed to a responsible and ethical treatment of people, animals and the environment along our entire value chain.
We would like to state that at no time we have supplied any raw materials or processed products from Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd , or related to it, to McDonald's.
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "Thank you very much for responding to our query and for sending Oliver’s detailed statement to us, we really appreciate Valio's engagement and transparency on this issue. Valio Food has shared photos on social media of Aqua Queen-branded yellowfin sole products - the label says ‘Pazifisches Scholleneinzelfilet (Lat. Limanda aspera)’ - with Yantai Sanko’s plant code on the packaging. We have also found similarly-packaged Aqua Queen ‘Rotbarschfilet (Lat. Sebastes alutus)’ bearing Yantai Sanko’s plant code. Were these Pazifisches Scholleneinzelfilet and Rotbarschfilet products part of the same shipments as the Redfish fillets that you referenced in your statement, dating September 2019 and December 2020? Please respond to this email by close of business June 28, 2023."
Merle Meiners, Purchasing and Key Account Manager at Valio replied on behalf of Oliver Winter, the Group CEO, saying: "As stated earlier, we stand for our values of responsible and ethical treatment of people, animals and our environment along the entire supply chain and strictly condemn any violation of human rights.
Thank you for reminding us of our social media posts back in 2020. We did not comment on the yellowfin sole earlier to you as this product is named in a different way internally (pacific plaice). The Latin name (Lat. Limanda aspera) you mentioned clarifies this point.
We traced back all our documents from the only two shipments we have received in 2019 and 2020 produced by Yantai Sanko. The shipment from 2019 included Rotbarschfilet (Lat. Sebastes alutus) and Pazifisches Scholleneinzelfilet (Lat. Limanda aspera), packed with Aqua Queen brand. The shipment from 2020 included Rotbarschfilet (Lat. Sebastes alutus) bulk packed with Valio brand. Indeed, the products displayed on our social media account were part of these earlier mentioned shipments.
We would like to state again that at the time of purchase and receipt of the products, there was no suspicion of any violation of human rights concerning Yantai Sanko. We stopped working with them in 2020 and do not have a supply relationship with them since that time, nor any direct contact (as mentioned, we bought product from them in 2019 and 2020 through a Chinese broker). All products from the two deliveries in 2019 and 2020 are consumed.
According to your email, Yantai Sanko is involved in forced labor under a state-imposed labor transfer program only since 2022. This is far later than our delivery period. Could you tell us more about your investigations so that we can use this as an example to build more awareness of potential violation of human rights.
We trust to have been fully transparent and are completely committed in supporting your investigations further. We would appreciate to be kept updated from your side and learn more about your next steps in this matter."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "Thank you for your continued engagement and transparency in relation to our investigation. We have evidence of Uyghur labor at Yantai Sanko as recently as 2022, but the earliest evidence we have uncovered actually dates back to early 2019. Oliver mentioned in his statement that at the time of the aforementioned deliveries to Valio, Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd. was certified according to the SMETA 4 Pillar by Bureau Veritas. Could you share a copy of the relevant Bureau Veritas audit report with us?"
Valio replied: "Thank you for providing the additional information. We don’t have the full SMETA audit report available, only the corrective action plan report. As this report is a third party document and not related to us at Valio at all, we would suggest you to contact Bureau Veritas or SMETA directly. Please find below an extract from the SEDEX platform, where you can see the registration number of Yanti Sanko. The SMETA audit was conducted from 5th-7th August 2019. ████ is named as Bureau Veritas Auditor. We hope that this information will help you in your ongoing investigation."