Correspondence
Email sent to the contact address for WOFCO.
The email said that The Outlaw Ocean Project was contacting the company on foot of an investigation into the use of forced labor in China's seafood processing industry, and a link the investigation found between a company engaged in such practices - Donggang Jinhui Foodstuff Co. Ltd. - and WOFCO's supply chain. The email said: "We have uncovered evidence that Donggang Jinhui has used North Korean labor after the December 2019 deadline for the repatriation of overseas North Korean workers required under United Nations Security Council sanctions. This evidence shows North Korean labor at Donggang Jinhui’s plant in Liaoning, China, as recently as 2023. According to our research, Donggang Jinhui has supplied squid to WOFCO under the 'Vostoq' range in the period since December 2019. While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, we want to ask if WOFCO has any comment to make in response to this email?"
Rodrigo Rodríguez, Head of Retail & Foodservice EU Markets at WOFCO, replied: "Thank you for your mail. We have been checking our records and indeed you are right, we did an import last year from that processing plant in China. Let me say that we could never imagine that this was happening on a plant approved for imports by the EU, so thanks again for sharing that information. It seems that is not enough relaying on the EU import control mechanisms to verify that import approved plants comply with UN sanctions. I also want to let you know that we have acted in consequence and have sent a requirement to the processing plant requesting a clarification on the allegation you have raised. If of interest, we can share their reply with you if we get anything back from their end. With just one purchase we might not be relevant enough for them to reply.
On that regard I want to say that WOFCO is an active participant of the Global Squid Supply Chain Roundtable ran by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, NGO we closely work with beyond this roundtable. This squid buyers group focuses on improving purchasing policies and due diligence processes to prevent IUU-sourced products or products with human rights violations to enter in our supply chains. If you don't mind, we will be sharing this information with this group so perhaps other members will also be sending similar requirements to this processing plant. Finally, I would like to reinforce WOFCO’s commitment with legality and transparency, and therefore our sensitivity to these kinds of allegations. Rest assured that we will rise this issue (compliance with UN sanctions) as a discussion point to improve current EU import legislation and verification mechanisms throughout the existing industry consultation channels the EU has, as well as we will be incorporating this in our internal verification processes to approve suppliers."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "Thank you very much for your email and the thorough response to our query. We would indeed be interested to hear what the processing plant has to say on the matter, if/when they reply to you."
Rodrigo Rodríguez emailed: "Some time has passed, and wanted to send you this mail to say that no answer from the plant was received, as mentioned in my previous mail we’ve share this topic with our colleagues at the SR (Global Squid Supply Chain Round Table), as this will help all of us to improve purchase policies. Again thanks for your work."