Southern Shrimp Alliance Files UFLPA Allegation on Argentinian Shrimp Processed in China

The Southern Shrimp Alliance announced it has filed a formal allegation with CBP that shrimp harvested in Argentina and processed in China by Qingdao Yize should be barred from entry into the U.S. because, it argues, Uyghur workers have been transferred to processing plants in Shandong province.

The Alliance said it based its complaint on both the Outlaw Ocean Project's Bait to Plate study (see 2310100030) and its own investigation on the distribution of Argentine red shrimp.

The Oct. 23 news release notes that the Outlaw Ocean Project identified Rizhao Meijia Keyuan Foods Co., Ltd. and Rizhao Rongxing Co., Ltd. as companies that had Uyghur labor transfers and had at one time exported shrimp to the U.S. The Alliance argued that Rongcheng Sanyue Foodstuff Co., which is not the subject of its formal complaint, also should be viewed with suspicion, since labor transfers have been occurring between Xinjiang and Shandong seafood processors for 15 years.

"The Southern Shrimp Alliance is calling on CBP to investigate all shipments of Argentinian shrimp exported to the United States from anywhere in China to determine whether the processing plant shipping the shrimp uses Uyghur labor," they wrote.

The Alliance also noted that during a House Homeland Security subcommittee hearing last week Rep. Mike Ezell, R-Miss., said the competition problem for domestic shrimpers goes beyond abuses in shrimp processing in China, but also that forced labor in fishmeal and fish oil processors sends cheap aquaculture feed to shrimp farmers.

They argue that all seafood exports from China should stop until importers can demonstrate their supply chains are free of forced labor.

“As we learn more about the seafood processing industry in Shandong, this is no longer about importers and grocery stores simply knowing their suppliers,” said John Williams, the executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “Whether it is shrimp or clothes or tomatoes or polysilicon, we need to ensure that American consumers are not unwittingly financing the Chinese Communist Party’s barbaric treatment of its own people. I, like many in this industry, am horrified by these reports and ask that our government shut this trade down immediately.”