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 suppliers in your supply chain - Yantai Sanko Fisheries and Rizhao Meijia Aquatic.
High Liner fish products are stocked by Loblaw’s supermarkets, Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills and Fortinos. High Liner sources fish, including haddock fillets, pollock fillets and Pacific cod, from the processor Yantai Sanko Fisheries.
Premier Marine Canada’s seafood mix is stocked by Loblaws, No Fril…
Our investigation continues to surface additional questions in relation to your company’s supply chain, specifically your supplier High Liner Foods.
Loblaws, No Fills and Real Canadian Superstore stock a range of High Liner Foods products containing white fish. High Liner has imported shipments of cod, pollock, haddock, yellowfin sole, ocean perch and flounder from Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd., a seafood processor 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 Apr…
We take allegations such as these very seriously. This is confirmation that Loblaw Brands is not currently sourcing High Liner products for any control brand products, however as a current national brand vendor, High Liner is compliant in our program and have signed off on their commitment to upholding our Code of Conduct. Our Supplier Code (attached) focuses on workers’ rights and protections within the supply chain, with a particular emphasis on the importance of protecting their human rights and providing safe working conditions.
Please could you clarify what you mean by "Loblaw Brands is not currently sourcing High Liner products for any control brand products" and "current national brand vendor"? Thank you for sharing the Loblaw Supplier Code of Conduct. It is not clear to us that the definition of "Related parties" in your code extends to second- and third-tier suppliers. To clarify, we don't have evidence of forced labor at facilities operated by your first-tier supplier High Liner. Our evidence of Xinjiang forced labor relates to Chinese factories supplying High Liner with a variety of seafoods. Please could you c…
To clarify, High Liner is not a supplier of our private label products, often referred to as “control brands”. As a national brand supplier – a vendor who appears within our stores under their own brand – we do not investigate the upstream supply chain. With that said, you will see in the below highlighted sections of our CoC, we clearly outline our expectations of the primary supplier as well as the expectation of those suppliers to manage their upstream supply chain in the same consistent manner.
Our Purpose - Live Life Well We exist to help Canadians ""Life Life Well"". Delivering on this…
We’re contacting you regarding further findings of our investigation into human rights and environmental abuses in China’s seafood industry as they relate to your supply chain.
Trade data shows that Rongcheng Puchen Aquatic has sent dozens of shipments of seafood products to Toppits Foods since 2018, including frozen breaded squid rings, breaded calamari rings, frozen squid tubes, frozen crumbed squid rings and tentacles, and frozen calamari bites.
We have evidence of squid catch from a Zhoushan Ningtai Ocean Fisheries vessel that engaged in unregulated fishing activity - the Ning Tai 58 - a…
We take allegations such as these very seriously. We have confirmed that Loblaw Brands does source control brand products from Toppits "Foods. We are currently working with our internal teams to ensure Toppits Foods is compliant and upholding our Code of Conduct. Our Supplier Code focuses on workers’ rights and protections within the supply chain, with a particular emphasis on the importance of protecting their human rights and providing safe working conditions. For more information on this and other matters of supply chain accountability, please visit our website https://www.loblaw.ca/en/supp…
Trade records seen by The Outlaw Ocean Project show that, between 2019 and 2022, Premier Marine Canada was the consignee for at least seven shipments of seafood from processors in China that have received people from the Xinjiang region of China under a state imposed labor transfer program. The processors, Rizhao Meijia Aquatic and Rizhao Jiayuan, are both owned by the Meijia Group.
The Meijia Group has received persons from the Xinjiang region of China under a state-imposed labor transfer program since 2019 and until as recently as May 2023. We have uncovered evidence of Uyghur workers in Ri…
Thank you for your inquiry. We take allegations such as these very seriously.
Confirming that Premier Marine Canada is an active control brand vendor. We can confirm that this vendor is in compliance with our attached code of conduct.
Our Supplier Code focuses on workers’ rights and protections within the supply chain, with a particular emphasis on the importance of protecting their human rights and providing safe working conditions. For more information on this and other matters of supply chain accountability, please visit our website https://www.loblaw.ca/en/supply-chain/.
We have forward…