TUF Drops Supplier Named in AP News Slavery Allegations
TUF has dropped the supplier named in an Associated Press story that detailed severe labor abuses aboard Southeast Asian fishing trawlers. Thai Union said the supplier was "terminated" immediately but did not list a specific company. “Thai Union embraces AP's finding," the company said in a statement where it calls the use of slave labor "utterly unacceptable."
According to the AP report, the agency conducted a year-long investigation where it interviewed more than 40 current and former slaves in Benjina, Indonesia. The AP documented a single large shipment of slave-caught seafood from the Indonesian village, including squid, snapper, grouper and shrimp, and tracked it by satellite to a Thai harbor. Upon its arrival, AP journalists followed trucks that loaded and drove the seafood over four nights to dozens of factories, cold storage plants and the country's biggest fish market. The major corporations identified by AP declined interviews but issued statements that strongly condemned labor abuses; many described their work with human rights groups to hold subcontractors accountable. "It's not only disturbing, it's disheartening because our companies have zero tolerance for labor abuses," the NFI’s Gavin Gibbons told the AP in their report.
In other news Preferred Freezers continues to expand its business in the US this time with a plan to build its first cold storage facility in the Pacific Northwest. The company announced a $32 million project to construct a state-of-the-art facility in Lynden, Washington. Preferred expects the warehouse to be finished by September of this year.
Meanwhile, Kraft Foods Group Inc. will merge with H.J. Heinz Co. in a deal orchestrated by 3G Capital and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., creating the third-largest food and beverage company in North America. “This is my kind of transaction, uniting two world-class organizations and delivering shareholder value,” Buffett said in the statement. “I’m excited by the opportunities for what this new combined organization will achieve.”
Finally, the latest video in Abundant Oceans’ series profiling fishery management in Alaska and the US features an interview with respected fishery Professor Ray Hilborn. Professor Hilborn discusses the number of scientific factors he believes are required to label a fishery truly sustainable, rather than strictly looking at year-to-year catch volumes.
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