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 Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Foodstuff.

Northseafood Holland BV has imported shipments of fish from a supplier called Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd., based in China. Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd. has received persons from the Xinjiang region of China under a state-imposed forced labor transfer program since 2019 and until at least…

Thank you for getting in touch with us and for your inquiry. Our internal supply chain and social standards-experts have tried to reconstruct the two cases mentioned by you.

As you may know, international supply chains are very complex and it is not easy to keep track of the whole value chain, with often numerous different players involved.

We’ve dug deep into our supply chain data base and are able to comment on the two cases as follows: · None of our research has shown any sort of connection to Northseafood Holland BV. · Cité Marine appears in a few documents that were shared with us. Howe…

Thank you very much for engaging so thoroughly with our query and for coming back to us so quickly with your findings.

I just wanted to clarify something with you - some of the fish products listed on Migros’ website carry manufacturer codes (for example, MSC certification codes) which are directly linked to both Northseafood Holland (like this ‘Pelican Atlantic cod’) and Cité Marine (like this ‘M Classic’ pollock). Do you or your colleagues on the internal supply chain and social standards side of things have any insight as to why this is the case?

Thanks again for your engagement on this,…

Thank you for your clarification. Indeed, the MSC number in question matches with the supplier. However, it is no direct supplier of Migros. Instead, it is a pre-supplier of our direct supplier. And in the case of the cod, we received confirmation from our direct supplier that the supply chain runs from the Barents Sea through the European Union and not China. As the MSC Chain of Custody requirements do not require suppliers to share their entire supply chain with their customers, we as Migros are not able to track the whole fish supply chains systematically in our internal systems. However, a…

Thank you very much for your email and for your additional comments and insights.

We have a couple of follow-up questions to clarify a few elements: You mention the confirmation you received from your cod supplier. Has your pollock supplier confirmed if the product they supply to Migros is processed or packaged by a Chinese factory?

Your email noted that, “As the MSC Chain of Custody requirements do not require suppliers to share their entire supply chain with their customers, we as Migros are not able to track the whole fish supply chains systematically in our internal systems.” Does it con…

As we stated earlier, we take a firm stand against any form of forced labour and, in accordance with the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct, only start business relationships with suppliers who also oppose any kind of bonded, forced labour or human trafficking. We take a risk-based approach to assess our supply chains. In the event of a violation of our Code of Conduct by a direct or indirect partner in our supply chain, we demand an immediate end to any form of forced labour. Improvement measures are initiated immediately and, where they do not lead to a remedy of the situation, measures may follow…

Since we were last in contact with Migros Gruppe in August 2023, our ongoing investigation has found further evidence of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry which we want to bring to your attention. We have uncovered evidence that the Chinese company Donggang Jinhui Foodstuff has 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 the presence of North Korean labor at Donggang Jinhui Foodstuff’s factory in Liaoning, China, as recently as 2023.…

Thank you for your inquiry and the information from your research. Again, we take a firm stand against any form of forced labour and, in accordance with the amfori BSCI Code of Conduct, only start business relationships with suppliers who also oppose any kind of bonded, forced labour or human trafficking. We take a risk-based approach to assess our supply chains. In the event of a violation of our Code of Conduct by a direct or indirect partner in our supply chain, we demand an immediate end to any form of forced labour. Improvement measures are initiated immediately and, where they do not lea…

We last corresponded with you by email in December 2023 regarding our investigation into the use of forced labor in China's seafood processing industry. Our ongoing investigation has found further evidence which we wanted to raise with Migros. We have investigators on the ground in China who have been engaging with labor brokers directly involved with the transfer of North Korean workers to factories in China.

Through this and other investigative means, including collecting online footage from the plants and interviews with workers recently returned to North Korea from China, we’ve found lar…