SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton [News analysis] — June 11, 2014 — A report yesterday in the Guardian targeting CP Foods has created a media storm where once again a major shrimp supplier from Thailand (CP) is being accused of manufacturing products with slave labor.
The ingredients are:
1) a highly visible end product such as shrimp – that customers have a direct relationship to.
2) a real social issue – human trafficking, which is being addressed at too slow a pace by the UN and various government agencies;
3) a tie-in between the environmental concerns of overfishing and forced labor on illegal fishing boats.
So the headline that your shimp is produced by slave labor has created a media firestorm, so much so that it is trending on social media.
But this is not just a seafod issue.
The organization called Project Freedom (Issara) which has offices in South East Asia and is the leading global NGO fighting slavery, ranks the following consumer products as most tainted by use of slavery and involuntary labor:
1. Gold
2. Cotton
4. Sugarcane
5. Tobacco
6. Coffee
7. Rice
8. Clothing
12. Cocoa
13. Carpets
14. Tea
15. Footwear
15. Cattle
16. Shrimp
19. Bananas
25. Tomatoes
(missing rankings are not consumer end user products).
Link to listing http://www.productsofslavery.org/
Shrimp ranks 16th according to the anti-slavery and forced labor organizations, below coffee and rice, but above tomatoes.
Retailers sell far more sugar, coffee, rice, tea and beef than they do shrimp.
So it should be obvious that trying to address this issue on the basis of an expose of a single product is a publicity strategy. It is likely timed with the threat by the US state department to downgrade Thailand's status as a Tier 2 country for failure to stem human trafficking.
Retailers have recognized this, and most are actively engaged in anti-trafficking audits and organizations.
For example, in shrimp retailers have focused on issues with immigrant labor in shrimp processing, and as a result much of this practice has been elminated in seafood supply chains, although not 100% eliminated in the industry.
Now the focus has moved on to fishmeal, and specifically the vessels, often unregistered or illegal, that harveset small fish used to feed fishmeal plants in Asia. The Guardian said that two retailers they contacted in the UK said " that when they started to look at where fish for prawn feed was coming from, it became clear that the boats engaged in illegal fishing were also likely to be using trafficked forced labour."
A number of retailers have joined Project Issara and they held a meeting in Bangkok last month where the issue of slavery on fishing vessels was discussed.
Here is the roundup of retailer reactions obtained by the Guardian:
Walmart, the world's largest retailer, said: "We are actively engaged in this issue and playing an important role in bringing together stakeholders to help eradicate human trafficking from Thailand's seafood export sector."
Carrefour said it conducts social audits of all suppliers, including the CP factory that supplies it with some prawns. It tightened up the process after alerts in 2012. It admitted that it did not check right to the end of its complex chains.
Costco told us it required its suppliers of Thai shrimp "to take corrective action to police their feedstock sources".
Tesco said: "We regard slavery as completely unacceptable. We are working with CP Foods to ensure the supply chain is slavery-free, and are also working in partnership with the International Labour Organisation and Ethical Trading Initiative to achieve broader change across the Thai fishing industry."
Morrisons said it would take the matter up with CP Foods urgently. "We are concerned by the findings of the investigation. Our ethical trading policy forbids the use of forced labour by suppliers and their suppliers."
The Co-operative was among those claiming it was already working to understand "working conditions beyond the processing level". "The serious issue of human trafficking on fishing boats is challenging to address and requires a partnership" in which it is actively engaged, it said.
Aldi UK said its contractual terms stipulate that suppliers do not engage in any form of forced labour. "Aldi will not tolerate workplace practices and conditions which violate basic human rights."
Iceland said it only sourced one line containing prawns from a CP Foods subsidiary but was pleased to note that CP was "at the forefront of efforts to raise standards in the Thai fishing industry".
Most retailers are already engaged on this issue, which affects much of their purchasing and not just seafood.
Both the national fisheries institute and human rights watch agree that engagement on this issue is more productive than boycotts, yet when it is framed as a consumer issue the goal is to use consumer pressure in the form of ceasing purchases, to convince retailers to force their suppliers to react.
This tactic works in individual markets when there is ample product, it is less successful when suppliers have the ability to simply walk away and sell to other markets; and when a product is in short supply that forces buyers to go outside of their normal sales channels.
The following story appeared on seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.