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 Dandong Taihua.

High Liner’s range of fish products are stocked by IGA. High Liner sources fish, including haddock fillets, pollock fillets and Pacific cod, from the processor Yantai Sanko Fisheries, based in China. Yantai Sanko Fisheries Co. Ltd. has received persons from the Xinjiang region of China under a state-imposed labor…

Empire Company Limited takes labour abuse issues very seriously. We have a zero tolerance policy in our supply chain and we set and communicate this high standard to our supplier partners through our Ethical and Sustainable Sourcing Policy. We have reached out to High Liner Foods to respond to your request directly. We no longer carry Ocean Mama Seafood products in our corporate store network. We expect our supplier partners to comply with international labour laws and standards to protect all individuals along the supply chain. Furthermore, we work closely with supplier partners and service p…

Our investigation continues to surface additional questions in relation to your company’s supply chain, specifically your supplier High Liner Foods.

Sobeys, Safeway and IGA 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 April 2023.

High Liner ha…

We previously emailed Sobeys on August 22, 2023, regarding our investigation into the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry. Since then, our ongoing investigation has uncovered additional evidence.

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 large numbers of North Korea…