Saving Seafood

Anonymous whistleblower letter critical to Lion Capital’s inclusion in Bumble Bee price-fixing lawsuit

August 23, 2023 — A federal judge has ruled former Bumble Bee Foods owner Lion Capital can be held liable in a civil lawsuit alleging it was involved in a price-fixing conspiracy involving the so-called “big three” U.S. tuna companies – Bumble Bee, Starkist, and Chicken of the Sea.

The U.K.-based private equity firm purchased Bumble Bee in 2010 and operated it until it was sold out of bankruptcy to FCF Co. in 2019, following its guilty plea to a charge of price-fixing, forcing it to pay a USD 25 million (EUR 22.6 million) fine and millions more in civil damages.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Bumble Bee, Conagra face USD 5 million class-action sustainability claims lawsuits

March 8, 2023 — Class-action lawsuits have been filed against Bumble Bee Foods and Conagra Brands over sustainability claims they made for their seafood products. The separate complaints, filed in federal district courts in the U.S. states of Illinois and California, each ask for at least USD 5 million (EUR 4.7 million) in damages.

The complaints also heavily criticize the Marine Stewardship Council, alleging it “blatantly violates its own standards and puts the very ecosystem MSC feigns to protect in serious danger.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Taiwanese tuna industry rep criticizes labor lawsuit filed against Bumble Bee Seafood

April 8, 2022 — The representative body for the Taiwanese tuna industry has criticized the decision by an American NGO to take a case against a Taiwan-based tuna processor instead of collaborating with government and industry on solutions.

Global Labor Justice – International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF) filed suit against San Diego, California, U.S.A.-based Bumble Bee Seafood – a major tuna brand and subsidiary of Fong Chun Formosa Fishery Company (FCF), a Taiwan-based seafood trader and fishing company – over what GLJ ILRF said were its “false and deceptive” marketing claims made by Bumble bee that it sources its tuna through a “fair and safe supply chain.”

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Bumble Bee “adamantly disagrees” with forced labor lawsuit claims

March 29, 2022 — Bumble Bee Seafood “adamantly disagrees” with claims made in a new lawsuit that the supplier and its owner, Kaohsiung, Taiwan-based FCF Co., use forced labor and have inadequate worker-safety standards.

The company “adamantly disagrees with the allegations made in the lawsuit and will defend ourselves,” the San Diego, California, U.S.A.-based tuna firm said in a statement to SeafoodSource. “We continue to work within our supply chain, with others in the tuna industry and through the Seafood Task Force to make the responsible recruitment and treatment of all workers an ongoing top priority.”

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

ISSF adds social and labor standards to membership requirements

November 24, 2020 — The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has added new labor and social standards to its requirements for member companies, which include tuna processors, traders, importers, transporters, marketers, and more.

The new standard – Conservation Measure 9.1 Public Policy on Social and Labor Standards – will require any business associated with ISSF to develop, and publish, social and labor standards and/or a sourcing policy that applies to the entire supply chain, which addresses forced labor; child labor; freedom of association; wages, benefits, and employment contracts; working hours; health and safety; discrimination, harassment, and abuse; and grievance mechanisms. The policy must be public – meaning it must be at a minimum available to the general public.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Seafood companies step up to help COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts

April 13, 2020 — Seafood companies across the United States have stepped up with donations of food, personal protective equipment, soap, and other items in response to the coronavirus crisis that is gripping the nation.

Sealaska, Bumble Bee, Tampa Bay Fisheries, Handy Seafood, Verlasso, and Diversified Communications are just a few companies in the seafood industry that have made efforts to help their communities in the ongoing health crisis that has killed more than 20,400 citizens, sickened half-a-million, and left practically the entire country with limited access to food and other necessities of life.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Evidence persists of IUU, forced labor in Taiwanese fleet, including on FCF-linked vessels

April 3, 2020 — Greenpeace East Asia is accusing Bumble Bee’s parent company, Taiwan-based Fong Chun Formosa (FCF), of forced labor and environmentally harmful practices aboard at least two vessels linked to the company.

FCF is among the top three tuna traders in the world, and acquired Bumble Bee in January after the American seafood company filed for bankruptcy. The two companies have a long history: Prior to the acquisition, FCF had been supplying Bumble Bee with 95 percent of its albacore and more than 70 percent of its light meat tuna, according to Greenpeace’s examination of court filings.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Evidence persists of IUU, forced labor in Taiwanese fleet, including on FCF-linked vessels

March 30, 2020 — Greenpeace East Asia is accusing Bumble Bee’s parent company, Taiwan-based Fong Chun Formosa (FCF), of forced labor and environmentally harmful practices aboard at least two vessels linked to the company.

FCF is among the top three tuna traders in the world, and acquired Bumble Bee in January after the American seafood company filed for bankruptcy. The two companies have a long history: Prior to the acquisition, FCF had been supplying Bumble Bee with 95 percent of its albacore and more than 70 percent of its light meat tuna, according to Greenpeace’s examination of court filings.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Bumble Bee pushing past scandal and bankruptcy with new partnerships and products

March 6, 2020 — Bumble Bee has emerged from years of tumult with a splash: A new owner, new product packaging, new product lines, and, perhaps most significantly, an industry-first partnership with a plant-based food producer, Good Catch.

The San Diego, California, U.S.A.-based tuna company’s travails of the past couple years are well-known. The company was fined USD 25 million (EUR 22.3 million) after pleading guilty in a tuna price-fixing scandal in 2017, then entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy this past November. In January, the company was bought by the Taiwanese company FCF Co. for USD 928 million (EUR 826 million), with which it has a 30-year business relationship.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Proposed settlement from Chicken of the Sea in class-action suit rejected by judge

January 27, 2020 — A proposed settlement between a class of commercial food-preparers and Chicken of the Sea, one of the three U.S. canned tuna companies found to have conspired to fix the prices of their products, has been rejected by the judge overhearing the case.

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California Judge Janis L. Sammartino rejected a payment of USD 6.5 million (EUR 5.9 million), saying it is not clear the settlement provides enough money to those harmed by the price-fixing.

Read the full story at Seafood Source