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 two of your suppliers - Nomad Foods and Young’s Seafood.
Our research shows that Northseafood Holland and Unibond Seafood International are white fish suppliers to Nomad Foods brands, which include the Bird’s Eye, Findus and Iglo ranges retailing across Europe. ASDA stocks a range of Nomad Foods’ Birds Eye branded products containing white fish, including cod and pollock.
Northseafood Ho…
Thanks for your email. For background only, and not for attributing to a spokesperson, I can confirm that Asda does not take supply from Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Foodstuffs Co. Ltd into our own brand products and we have no relationship with Northseafood Holland or Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd.
If you have any evidence to the contrary, please do provide this and we’ll look into it. We would defer you to Nomad Foods and Young’s for any further information.
All raw material used in Asda own brand products is subject to supplier facility framework which we control. Asda must grant approval for any site to be used in the production of its own branded products, therefore we can view the facilities where all raw ingredients are produced for Asda own-branded products which shows that we have no relationship Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Foodstuffs Co. Ltd into our own brand products and we have no relationship with Northseafood Holland or Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd. Once again, if you can provide any evidence to the contrary I am more than happy to rai…
Thank you for the prompt reply and clarification. Our findings indicate shortcomings in seafood traceability systems, including among Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified entities. Beyond the upstream supplier approval process, does ASDA have visibility on the movement of material through the supply chain and assurance on product traceability, batch management, etc at each location handling the product? How does ASDA verify that your product traceability is fit for purpose and provides robust assurance that material from Qingdao Tianyuan hasn't entered your own-brand product supply?
Since we last contacted Asda 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 Asda’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 Asda, as per Asda’s website. We have uncovered evidence that Donggang Haimeng used North Korean labor after the December 2019 deadline for the repatriation of overse…