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 two of your suppliers - Nomad Foods and Young’s Seafood.
Our research shows that Northseafood Holland and Unibond Seafood International are white fish suppliers to Nomad Foods brands, which include the Birds Eye, Findus and Iglo ranges retailing across Europe. Waitrose stocks a range of Nomad Foods’ Birds Eye branded products containing white fish, including cod and pollock. Northseafood…
Thank you for your email, we'll look into your questions for you. Please could you confirm whether you've contacted other supermarkets for comment and which outlet you'll be writing your piece for? What time period did you carry out your investigation?
We are writing for a variety venues globally. Yes, we have contacted various supermarkets. We are likely publishing this Fall but we are not certain an exact date. I'm writing to confirm that our investigation spans 2018 to 2023.
Thank you, and please could you confirm which outlets you're planning to write your piece for?
The worker welfare of those in our supply chain is incredibly important to us, and we expect our suppliers comply with the provisions of our Responsible Sourcing Code of Practice (RSCOP). We have our own due diligence programme in place and also expect all suppliers to carry out their own due diligence - you can read further information from our website here. We have looked into this as a matter of urgency with our supplier and they do not source from Yantai Sanko. Our due diligence processes to date have also not shown any evidence of forced labour at Qingdao Tianyuan, however we would encour…
Please could you tell us more about the due diligence steps taken by Waitrose to investigate our allegations of forced labour at Qingdao Tianyuan? To clarify, our allegation concerns state-imposed forced labour. As mentioned in our previous communication, the United Nations, human rights organizations and academic experts agree that since 2018, the Chinese government has systematically subjected Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities to forced labor across the country via state-sanctioned employment programs which use coercive methods in worker enrollment and obstruct freedom to ter…
My apologies for opening parallel queries but we've additional questions in relation to your company's supply chain. Our research shows that Young's Seafood supplies Waitrose with a range of own-brand white fish products, including cod and pollock (coley) fish cakes, fish fingers and fillets. Could you confirm whether white fish sourced from Qingdao Tianyuan has been used in any of the Waitrose branded white fish products sold by Waitrose since 2018? Please also respond to this email by close of business September 1, 2023.
Thanks again for your email. I've had confirmation that we do not source own-label white fish via Young's through China directly or indirectly, nor have we in the timeframes you referenced. It would be wholly incorrect to report otherwise. As outlined previously, we expect our suppliers to comply with the provisions stated from our Responsible Sourcing Code of Practice (RSCOP), and we're looking into these issues raised as a matter of urgency with our supplier. When it comes to forced labour, we refer to the International Labour Organisation's definition of forced labour.