We’re contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry, specifically North Korean workers in Chinese plants.

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 Korean workers at a range of seafo…

Thank you for reaching out to Trident Seafoods. We have been impressed with the reporting by Ian Urbina and the Outlaw Ocean Project and hope you saw our CEO's response posted on our website.

I appreciate you letting us know about your findings at Dalian Haiqing Food Co. Ltd in Dandong.

I will be back in the office next week after the U.S. MLK Day holidays and can answer additional questions then. For now, I want to provide you with a high-level response.

Trident has taken an active stance against any form of forced labor, including investing in our own robust Corporate Social Responsibi…

Thanks again for your outreach to Trident. We appreciate your work and efforts to engage companies like ours that take advancing ethical and transparent seafood supply chain practices throughout the industry very seriously.

Thanks for clarifying that your information pertains to Dalian Haiqing Foods, Co. As you may be aware, this is a parent or holding company with several subsidiary companies covering various facility locations in China. Trident has business relationships with three of these subsidiary companies, none of which are based in Dandong: Dalian Jiaming Food Co., Ltd. Dalian Ful…

Thank you for your time and attention on this. We appreciate you sharing those insights on the auditing process you have in place with your supplier, as well as your continued engagement with us.

Two of the three plants you have identified in your email of January 19, 2024, (Dalian Jiaming Food Co. Ltd and Dalian Haikuo Food Co. Ltd.) are based on the same site in Zhuanghe City. One of our investigators in China visited this site, providing video footage from the grounds. Haiqing also displays its branding at each of the facilities, and Chinese corporate records indicate it is still the pare…

The allegations that you shared are deeply concerning. I spoke with our leadership team and can assure you that the issue has our full attention. I can also confirm that we have not shared your information with our colleagues in China as we, too, want to ensure the safety of our employees and anyone who has spoken with OOP.

Please see below responses to your questions, and our proposal for next steps:

Can you clarify if any or all of the social audits carried out in January, July, August, and October of 2023 were unannounced?

Our CSR audits are announced given the extent of time and subj…

Our leadership team is extremely concerned about the seriousness of the allegations raised by OOP and wants to take quick action. We also want to respect your request not to engage our China team or relay any of the information you shared. It would be incredibly helpful to have a discussion with you to agree on the best next steps that will meet our needs and keep people safe.

To be clear, we want to conduct an investigation specifically addressing the types of violations you mentioned. If our CSR program missed these violations, we want to understand the gaps and implement improvements. As…

We genuinely appreciate your sense of alarm and we would like to assist in any way we can. Thank you for taking seriously the safety concerns that we raised. We do however need to conduct our interactions with you in writing. Our director, Ian Urbina, is at sea reporting and unable to make phone calls. For our part, we will continue to try to reply extremely quickly to your questions and with as much detail as possible about our findings.

In terms of what you can safely convey to your staff in China, we certainly do not want to hinder your efforts. Perhaps you can explain our broader finding…

Thanks for your response and we truly appreciate your willingness to support our investigations. I understand the need to remain on email and am happy to proceed as such.

By way of an update, we’ve heard from one of our customers that they are also conducting an investigation after hearing what we assume are similar allegations from OOP. We fully support our customers’ actions and have offered to participate in their investigation if helpful.

Separately, Trident is suspending trade with DHF, and we are structuring our own investigation in collaboration with an independent third party to pr…

First, let me say Trident's willingness to engage with us in a candid and transparent way is refreshing and quite unusual in your industry. Thank you for that. We genuinely want to engage with you in a way that is constructive as I do believe we both share a desire to fix certain problems.

With regard to your email, yes, we are trying to be consistent with all companies in this investigation. So, when we find evidence of problems and evidence that we think is credible we contact any companies that we think are touched by these problems. We are doing all these interactions in writing and on re…

We’re contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry, specifically North Korean workers in Chinese plants.

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 Korean workers at a range of seafo…

Thanks for reaching out. No, we do not plan to share details about our current conversations with OOP, the allegations, or our investigation.

Your original New Yorker report encouraged us to think about how Trident can contribute to the conversation by sharing our CSR program with others. We're learning that many do not fully understand the uniqueness of our CSR program. The story on our website is a planned follow-up to a previous op-ed. We want to be transparent about our investment and practices and reiterate that we're continually learning and refining the program. We only briefly mention…

Our subsidiary company in Germany – Pickenpack Seafoods – notified us that on January 29th, you reached out to them regarding the Haiqing allegations. I advised our team in Germany that we are corresponding with you and request that you direct all future Pickenpack-related questions to us for efficiency’s sake. As you know, we have suspended trade with Haiqing while we conduct a thorough investigation, and we are trying to keep the information contained to protect the safety of the people involved and the integrity of the investigation. Please let me know if you have any concerns with this app…

As you are aware, we are currently conducting an investigation based on the allegations you presented. Out of an abundance of caution, we have suspended trading with Haiqing while we conduct this investigation based on the limited information you provided. All of our effort and attention is focused on walking the fine line between maintaining the confidentiality you requested and ensuring we conduct a thorough investigation. This is made more difficult as The Outlaw Ocean Project broadens your outreach and more people are made aware of the situation. I fear we are losing the element of confide…

Thanks for checking in. We’re on the West Coast, and time zones are challenging for quick responses. We greatly appreciate your willingness to support our investigative process.

North Korean labor

Our primary concern is to confirm whether North Korean workers are now or have been employed at Haiqing. The allegation from OOP is based on a hearsay account from a third-party businessman. We want to speak with our in-country CSR Manager, who conducts our independent audits and has had regular access to all the living quarters on the Haiqing campus. We also want to engage with our employees whom…

Thank you for your email and for laying out those points. We understand the balancing act you’re trying to achieve. We too are attempting a similar balancing act in being transparent and fair, but rigorous and sufficiently skeptical of all parties. We will continue to try to assist you as best we can without stepping outside our role as a journalism organization.

One important point to clarify, however, is that in your email you said that the information is based on "a hearsay account from a third-party businessman". That’s not accurate. In fact, we have previously described to you multiple s…

Thank you for your response on Feb 6th. We have used the time between then and now to further our investigations and engage others in the manner you prescribed. Today, I’d like to update you on the status of our investigation, our findings, and the CSR program improvements currently under consideration.

Firstly, let me reiterate that we believe Trident and Outlaw Ocean Project are aligned in our mutual desire for a healthy and transparent work environment for seafood employees in China. We are committed to doing our part to make this a reality and our CSR program is a significant component o…

Thank you for your thoughtful and thorough note. As we have mentioned before, we will mention again: Compared to most other companies in your industry, Trident has been far more responsive and transparent to the questions we have posed and the concerns raised by the reporting. We have appreciated your tone and responsiveness. You may have mistaken for “frustration” our attempt to very clearly correct an error in your last email. No, we are not frustrated at all. We simply felt it important to point out a significant inaccuracy in your remark that the concerns raised in your supply chain were b…

As discussed in our email of February 24, 2024, we have engaged with experts on supply-chain traceability, labor protections and social audits to explore the steps Trident outlined it was taking to address the issues raised in our investigative reporting. We will share those experts’ insig…

Thank you for consulting with experts and for sharing their feedback with us. We appreciate the insight and will certainly consider the recommendations as we continue to strengthen our CSR program.

We agree that this is an incredibly complex, systemic issue and Trident is committed to making a difference within our supply chain while the seafood, public, and other sectors work to address risks of exploitive labor practices in China manufacturing more broadly. As such, Trident will continue to lead with our CSR program and do all we can to improve the lives of those within our orbit. Again, w…

A coalition of eighteen NGOs wrote to thirteen major seafood distributors and retailers, including Trident, asking a series of questions connected to the Outlaw Ocean's reporting. Their email to Trident said: "Dear Trident,

We are writing to you on behalf of a consortium of human rights NGOs requesting an update on the steps Sysco has taken following the investigation published by The Outlaw Ocean Project. The investigation highlighted concerns about state-imposed Uyghur and North Korean forced labor across the Chinese seafood processing facilities, including within your company’s supply chai…