Correspondence
Email sent to the press team at Metro, Germany.
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 companies engaged in such practices and your supplier, Seafood Connection B/V.
Seafood Connection supplies various seafood products - including squid, shrimp, octopus, eel and fish roes - to Metro.
Trade data shows that Seafood Connection has been supplied seafood from Shandong Haidu Ocean Product Co. Ltd., Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd., Rizhao Meijia Keyuan Foodstuff, Rizhao Rirong Aquatic Food and Rizhao Rongxing Food Co. Ltd.
All of these Chinese factories have received persons from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China under the government's labor transfer program, as early as 2017 and as recently as 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 leave employment. The U.S. has prohibited the importation of goods produced from state-imposed forced labor.
In addition, trade data also shows shipments of seafood from Rongcheng Guangrun and Zhejiang Industrial Group, consigned to Seafood Connection.
Rongcheng Guangrun Aquatic Food is owned by Shandong Bodelong Group. Bodelong Group vessels have fished illegally in the South Atlantic and the South Pacific Oceans, and have disembarked at least two dead deckhands in the Port of Montevideo, in 2016 and 2019. One vessel also disembarked an ill deckhand in Montevideo in 2020 who had symptoms of beriberi, a sign of severe neglect.
Separately, our research has found that two vessels owned by a company under Zhejiang Industrial Group’s majority owner, Zhejiang Shengda Ocean Co. Ltd., have a history of disabling their vessel tracking, and we have also authenticated footage showing a Zhejiang Industrial Group worker unloading squid for the plant from a vessel on which an Indonesian worker died.
Could you confirm whether seafood sourced from any of the aforementioned Chinese facilities has been used in any products sold by Metro since 2018?"
Diana Palm, Head of Strategic Sustainability Department, replied with a statement from Metro: "Thank you for your inquiry regarding the source of our products in connection with the issue of forced labor in China's food processing industry. The responsible treatment of our employees, customers, suppliers and natural resources is firmly anchored in our corporate activities. For Metro, acting responsibly with a view to the future and the subsequent impact of our business on society and the environment, and thus conversely the impact on our business, is essential. Respect for human rights and environmental concerns is therefore one of Metro's core values. Please see our ‘Declaration of Values on Human Rights and Environmental Concerns’ attached. This is why we have immediately and thoroughly investigated your inquiry. After this investigation we can confirm, that we haven’t used seafood sourced from any of the mentioned Chinese facilities in any of our products sold since 2018. We hope this response meets your questions to your satisfaction."