I’m contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry, and a link we’ve discovered between companies engaged in such practices and procurement contracts awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Public records show that, since 2018, the Department of Agriculture has awarded dozens of procurement contracts to seafood companies who source their products from Chinese factories which have received persons from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China under a state-imposed labor tran…

Thank you for reaching out. I’m looping you with Allan Rodriguez, USDA’s Press Secretary." July 13, 2023: Allan Rodriguez emailed: "“USDA is committed to preventing forced labor and human trafficking. All agricultural products, including fish, purchased by USDA for use in food assistance programs are procured in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) System, and must be grown and processed in the United States or its territories. The FAR implements procurement-related aspects of various statutes and Executive Orders, including those addressing forced or indentured child labor…

Thanks very much for your response to our query, we really appreciate the USDA’s engagement on this. We have some additional questions to further clarify this issue:-

1. As we have identified five companies in the U.S. that are major providers of seafood to the USDA and these companies rely heavily, if not exclusively, on processing in China, how does the USDA ensure that all the seafood they’re providing through these contracts is processed in U.S.-based processing facilities?
2. Does the USDA verify this independently or do you rely on the contracted company to provide the verification?
3. I…

1. As we have identified five companies in the U.S. that are major providers of seafood to the USDA and these companies rely heavily, if not exclusively, on processing in China, how does the USDA ensure that all the seafood they’re providing through these contracts is processed in U.S.-based processing facilities? USDA requires that our seafood products be sourced in U.S. waters by U.S. flagged vessels and produced in U.S. establishments approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Seafood Inspection Program. USDA ensures this requirement is met by conducting pre and post-production, on site…