Houston, Texas, U.S.A.-based Sysco, the world’s largest broadline food distributor with more than 600,000 customers, has promised to end its purchasing of all seafood traced back to the Chishan Group, a Chinese processor accused of using Uyghur forced labor.
In a 5 January 2024 letter responding to an inquiry from U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-California), Sysco President and CEO Kevin Hourican said he was committed to rooting out illegal labor practices within his company’s supply chain.
“Any act of human trafficking, slavery, forced labor, or child labor within Sysco’s supply chain is unacceptable and, if identified, will be promptly addressed in compliance with our policies and procedures,” he said.
In a 14 December 2023 letter to Hourican, Huffman called out Sysco’s connections with Shandong Haidu and Rongcheng Haibo, subsidiaries of the Chishan Group – a Chinese processing company linked to the use of Uyghur labor by the Outlaw Ocean Project. Huffman also questioned apparent weaknesses in Sysco’s auditing process for its seafood supply chain.
Hourican assured Huffman Sysco is taking steps to tighten its auditing process, including conducting a comprehensive audit of its compliance mechanisms for its supplier code of conduct and the addition of more unannounced audits of the companies and facilities from which it sources products.
“Sysco welcomes the opportunity to work with government and non-government entities to help identify solutions and take action to address human rights violations within the global supply chain. We stand ready to collaborate with others in our industry and beyond,” Hourican said. “Achieving traceability and improving transparency in the highly complex seafood supply chain can be extraordinarily difficult to achieve. Solutions require a shared responsibility, including industry and NGO partnerships, regulatory oversight, and access to affordable technology and reporting platforms throughout the global supply chain.”
Hourican said Sysco it had terminated its relationship with Shangdong Haidu on 14 December 2023 and planned to cease buying from subsidiaries that sourced from the Chishan Group and the other processors identified as using forced labor in Outlaw Ocean’s reporting.
“Sysco is surveying its non-Sysco brand seafood suppliers to identify whether they have relationships with the Chishan Group or other processors named in the Ocean Outlaw report,” Hourican said. “Sysco will cease purchasing any items traced back to the Chishan Group.”
On 9 January, a letter signed by Huffman and 21 other U.S. representatives called on U.S. President Joe Biden to take action to urge Sysco to commit to improved practices to avoid suppliers connected to forced labor and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
“Should Sysco not comply, the members of Congress request that the United States government terminate its relationship with Sysco,” the letter said.
The letter also asked the Biden administration to ...
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