Emails and trade records indicate which customers received shrimp from the plant.
Did Choice Canning send shrimp to Ahold Delhaize?
In a statement to reporters, the large supermarket chain Ahold Delhaize wrote that Choice Canning had said that none of the shrimp for the grocer’s private brand products is processed at the Amalapuram plant. Other documents seem to indicate otherwise. Ahold Delhaize is a Dutch-headquartered multinational company that owns the Food Lion, Giant, Hannaford and Stop & Shop chains in the United States. It operates more than 2,000 stores across 23 states.
AA collection of emails, internal audits, and WhatsApp conversations seem to show shrimp from Choice Canning’s Amalapuram plant, which is often called Unit III, being processed for Ahold Delhaize’s private brand, Nature’s Promise.
How much shrimp did Choice Canning export to the United States between 2019 and February 2024?
ATrade data published by the subscription service Import Genius shows that Choice Canning exported more than 42,000 tons of shrimp to the United States between January 2019 and February 2024.
What brands of shrimp did Choice Canning plan to ship in March 2024?
AThis spreadsheet shows the quantity of shrimp that the Amalapuram plant intended to export by the end of March 2024, including brands such as HelloFresh, Aldi’s “Fremont,” Sam’s Club’s “Sam’s Choice,” and Wakefern’s “Bowl & Basket”, according to Joshua Farinella.
AChoice Canning’s “Tastee Choice” brand products are sold in commissaries at 29 U.S. Military bases spanning 23 states across the country and Washington, D.C. The commissaries are operated by the Defense Commissary Agency, under the Department of Defense.
How much shrimp did Choice Canning supply to The Fishin’ Co.?
AChoice Trading sent more than 10 shipments totaling at least 260 tons of shrimp to The Fishin’ Co. between July 2023 and February 2024, according to U.S. trade data, accessed through the subscription service Import Genius. Likely due to requests for confidentiality made by the importer, some of the shipments in this spreadsheet do not list Choice Trading in the shipper column or The Fishin’ Co. in the consignee column. However, both companies are explicitly mentioned in the product description column. Moreover, the product description column includes information regarding the purchase order number associated with the shipment and, consistent with other U.S. trade data where The Fishin’ Co. is identified as the consignee, the purchase order number is a five-digit numeric code that begins with a “3.”
BThis spreadsheet, accessed through the subscription service Panjiva, shows all imports by The Fishin’ Co. between March 2023 and March 2024, where the company is explicitly listed under the “consignee” column. Many of the descriptions under the “goods shipped” column include a purchase order formulation that follows the same format: “FISHIN PO: PO3,” followed by four additional digits. This supports the conclusion that for any shipment that has a purchase order formulation that starts in the same way, The Fishin’ Co. is the buyer.
CThe product descriptions in the Import Genius spreadsheet also include invoice numbers for each shipment to The Fishin’ Co. Multiple invoice numbers identified in this database correspond to the numbers listed in an internal Choice Canning document as well. For example, the invoice number “TCFP/066/23-24,” listed in a shipment of shrimp products to The Fishin’ Co that arrived in the United States on January 20, 2024, corresponds to the invoice number assigned to a shipment in an email thread between Choice employees about the delivery.
DA Choice Trading employee shared details about containers scheduled to be exported in November 2023. The list included the invoice number, “TCFP/066/23-24.”
EThese emails between employees at Choice Canning and The Fishin' Co., and exchanged internally between Choice Canning staffers, offer additional information about shrimp purchases between July and November 2023.
