Correspondence
Email sent to Tesco's press office and marked FAO Matt Francis, head of media at Tesco PLC.
The email said that Tesco's supplier Lyons Seafoods has sourced seafood from Shandong Haidu, which has received persons from the Xinjiang region of the People’s Republic of China under a state-imposed labor transfer program. The email also asked for comment.
Fred in Tesco's press office replied: "Please contact Lara Conradie (lara.conradie@brc.org.uk) at the British Retail Consortium (BRC) for an industry-wide view. She is awaiting your email and has a response to give you from an industry perspective."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied, saying we are happy to engage BRC, but will also need a formal reply from Tesco.
Fred at Tesco's press office responded: "You can say we referred you to an industry body as it’s an industry wide issue."
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed to clarify that it would have to report that Tesco declined to answer Tesco-specific questions.
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed Tesco, saying that two suppliers of Tesco - Nomad Foods and Young’s Seafood - are supplied seafood products by companies in China that have recieved persons from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Northseafood Holland and Unibond Seafood International are white fish suppliers to Nomad Foods brands, which include the Birds Eye, Findus and Iglo ranges retailing across Europe. Tesco stocks a range of Nomad Foods’ Birds Eye branded products containing white fish, including cod and pollock. Northseafood Holland has imported shipments of white fish, including pollock, from the processor, Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd., based in China. Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd. has received persons from the Xinjiang region of China under a government labor transfer program since 2019 and until at least April 2023. Unibond Seafood International is a white fish supplier to Young’s Seafood, which supplies Tesco with a range of Young’s branded products containing white fish. Unibond Seafood has imported shipments of white fish, including cod and pollock, from Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Foodstuffs Co. Ltd., a supplier based in China. Qingdao Tianyuan has also received persons transferred by the Chinese government from the Xinjiang region since 2020 and until at least May 2023. The email asked for comment on whether white fish sourced from these Chinse plants had ended up in any of the branded white fish products under Nomad Foods or Young’s Seafood brands or in any of Tesco's own branded seafood sold by Tesco.
The Outlaw Ocean Project emailed Tesco's press office, saying: "Since we last contacted Tesco in August, our investigation into the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry has made further findings which we want to bring to your attention, as they relate to Tesco’s supply chain. Packaging analysis shows that a company called Cawoods Ltd. has been supplied salted pollock products from the Chinese company, Donggang Haimeng. We understand that Cawoods supplies salted pollock to Tesco, as per Tesco’s website. We have uncovered evidence that Donggang Haimeng 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 Haimeng’s factory in Liaoning, China, as recently as 2023. While we understand that you may not be aware of the above issues, does Tesco have any comment to make in response to this email? Can you confirm or deny if Tesco has sold any product sourced from Donggang Haimeng since December 2019?"