The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) has filed formal paperwork with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) asking it to weigh in on whether forced labor allegations involving Indian shrimp exporter Nekkanti Sea Foods constitutes an unfair trade practice.
“Forced labor is not a competitive advantage; it’s an inhumane practice that must end,” SSA Executive Director Blake Price said in a release. “Multiple investigations find that Indian shrimp producers cut their costs by exploiting vulnerable populations, who are compelled by debt bondage, restricted movement, and abusive bosses to work in hazardous conditions to make shrimp that is exported to the United States. When the U.S. opens its market to Indian shrimp, we fail those vulnerable workers and allow immoral practices to push ethical producers out of the market.”
The filing comes more than two years after separate reports from the Corporate Accountability Lab, the Associated Press, and the Outlaw Ocean Project documented evidence of widespread forced labor and other abuses in India’s shrimp sector. The Ocean Outlaw Project report highlighted the testimony of whistleblower Joshua Farinella, a 45-year-old Pennsylvania resident who was hired in October 2023 to manage a shrimp-processing facility in India.
“If you do any kind of research or even a simple Google search on signs of forced labor, what I was seeing checked every box,” Farinella told SeafoodSource after the reports dropped. “Eventually, I reached the point where I knew something had to be done to change this situation. People shouldn't have to live like that. People shouldn't have to be involved in any kind of conditions like that. The U.S. consumer also needs to know that the food reaching our plates is safe. Once all of these things kind of clicked, I knew I had to do something to hopefully drive a change in the industry.”
Nekkanti Sea Foods was named in the Corporate Accountability Lab and Associated Press reports, with one supervisor at a shrimp peeling facility alleging the company removed migrant workers when inspection officials came around in order to pass audits. The report also alleged that workers were regularly forced to work for the company until they paid off large loans they received from recruiters.
Following the reports, U.S. foodservice distributor Sysco said it was “suspending the receipt of any products from Nekkanti Seafood processing plants or facilities pending our investigation into allegations of human rights and labor abuses.”
Nekkanti Sea Foods denied the allegations, claiming it had no association with the shrimp peeling sheds documented in the report beyond, possibly, leasing them trucks. The company also denied allegations that it prevented workers from leaving its facilities or forced them to live in unsanitary conditions.
“It is flatly and demonstrably untrue that any of our employees that reside at our on-site dormitories are prevented from leaving,” Nekkanti Sea Foods said. “The dormitory facilities are all clean, modern buildings that far exceed regulatory standards. That housing is provided free of charge along with primary medical care at no cost. We adhere strictly to the guidelines set forth by the state Labor Department and have implemented our own internal Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to ensure the welfare and safety of our workers.”
The Seafood Exporters Association of India also pushed back on the Associated Press report, claiming it was full of inaccuracies.
“[The AP] report contains a number of errors and omissions and leaves readers with a willfully distorted view of Indian shrimp exporters that could cause harm to the very workers AP claims to be concerned with, setting back economic development in the region by years,” Seafood Exporters Association of India President Pawan Kumar said in a statement.
In 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor added Indian shrimp imports to its List of Goods Produced with Forced Labor, citing the AP, Corporate Accountability Lab, and Outlaw Ocean Project reports.
Now, the SSA has returned to those 2024 reports to back its Section 337 complaint to the ITC about forced labor in Nekkanti Sea Foods supply chains. The industry group claims that Indian government subsidies and dumping undermines domestic shrimp prices, hurting U.S. shrimpers. Roughly 52 percent of U.S. peeled shrimp imports come from India, and while the U.S. government has taken some action to address unfair trade practices, SSA claims those actions “do not fully address the unfair competition caused by forced labor.”
“This case aims to pressure India’s shrimp aquaculture industry to remove forced labor from their supply chains to access the large U.S. market,” Price said. “Unfairly traded shrimp undercut American shrimpers, who are leaving their cherished, multigenerational way of life to make ends meet. America is losing its ability to access the sustainable shrimp stocks that grow naturally in local waters.”
The ITC has 30 days from the filing of the petition to decide whether it will initiate a case.
