Correspondence
Email sent to Lyons Seafoods and parent company Labeyrie Fine Foods.
The email said that Lyons' supplier Shadong Haidu has received Uyghur forced labor, and that Chishan vessels have been observed fishing illegally in Indonesian waters and in North Korean waters in contravention of UN sanctions. It also asked if Lyons sources products for Tesco, Waitrose or Sainsbury's through Haidu, and asked for comment.
Labeyrie Fine Foods replied with details on the various sourcing standards that Labeyrie Fine Foods expects of all of its UK suppliers.
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied, asking to see the Self-Assessment Questionnaires or audit reports mentioned in the Labeyrie statement, or if these programs identified Uyghur labor at Shandong Haidu.
Labeyrie replied, saying: "As you can understand we cannot share self-assessment questionnaires nor audit reports to anyone outside of our value chains. We will reiterate that we have received all necessary assurances confirming that no labour from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is being used by the plant."
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed back, asking if Labeyrie had independently verified the self-assessement questionnaires, share the date of the last SMETA audit, and if Labeyrie conducts any human rights due diligence in its seafood sourcing.
Labeyrie replied, "We are extremely concerned with this", and asked for a copy of the public statement from the Chishan Group.
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied: "We cannot give publicly available documents right now for fear that companies will begin pulling theirs down, but we can say they are indeed company documents published by the companies themselves and they clearly corroborate the companies’ engagement with Uyghur labor transfers and the presence of Uyghurs in the processing plants. Could you address the questions we raised in our last email by close of business today."
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed Labeyrie asking if the company could respond to the questions raised previously and also to confirm if Lyons sources squid from Haidu which it then supplies to major UK supermarkets.
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed: "According to our research, Lyons Seafoods is supplied by Sirena Group. Trade records show that Sirena Group has imported shipments of seafood from a supplier called Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd., based in China. Yantai Sanko Fisheries has received persons from the Xinjiang region of China under a state-imposed labor transfer program since 2019 and until at least April 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. The U.S. has prohibited the importation of goods produced from state-imposed forced labor. While we recognize that you may not be aware of these concerns, we wanted to ask you if you have any comment or statement in response to the above information. Please can you confirm or deny if Lyons Seafood has received seafood sourced from Yantai Sanko from Sirena Group?"
Labeyrie's UK Information Team replied: "I can confirm this supply chain has never been used by Lyons Seafoods."