Seafood sold in UK supermarkets may have a dark side – here’s why
Seafood allegedly produced using the forced labour of Uyghur people in China may have been sold at Iceland – and could be on sale now at other British supermarkets, according to an investigation.
Iceland told Sky News it no longer had a relationship with the Chinese supplier in question.
Since 2018, the Chinese government is believed to have moved tens of thousands of Uyghurs from their homes in Xinjiang to other parts of China, as part of a “labour transfer programme”.
Human rights advocates say the programme constitutes forced labour, a charge that China has repeatedly denied. The Chinese embassy did not respond to our request for a comment.
An investigation by non-profit journalism organisation The Outlaw Ocean Project – shared with Sky News – has found that nine large seafood companies in Shandong, a province in east China, have received at least 2,000 Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities from Xinjiang – and that many of them supply the UK.
One of those is Shandong Meijia Group, one of the largest seafood processing companies in China.
Workers inside the Yantai Sanko Fisheries plant in Shandong province. Pic: Douyin
In 2021, Sky News visited one of the company’s factories in the town of Rizhao, as part of an investigation that revealed details of Uyghur forced labour.
The company had posted an article on its website showing Uyghurs arriving as part of the “integration of the national family”.
After Sky News sent questions to the company, the article was deleted. A manager at the entrance told our reporting team that there were no Uyghur workers.
But videos posted to Douyin – the Chinese counterpart of TikTok – have been uncovered by Outlaw Ocean and verified by Sky News.
They show Uyghur workers as recently as October 2022, and at another factory as recently as May 2023, at two Meijia Group plants: Meijia Jiayuan and Meijia Keyuan.
Shandong Meijia did not respond to Sky News’s request for comment.
Exhausted Uyghur workers inside the plant in 2021. Pic: Douyin
The Outlaw Ocean Project reviewed hundreds of pages of internal company newsletters, local news reports, a database of Uyghur testimonies, trade data, and satellite and cell phone imagery to verify the location of processing plants.
They also verified that the Douyin users had initially registered in Xinjiang.
Reporter Ian Urbina throws a bottle with interview questions inside at Chinese squid boat. Pic: The Outlaw Ocean Project/James Glancy
Iceland hasn’t received products for ‘significant period’
Meijia’s customers include Iceland, and distributors Fastnet Fish and Westbridge Foods Ltd, according to an archived version of their customer list on their website.
Fastnet Fish has said that as a result of the investigation it had terminated its relationship with Meijia. Westbridge Foods did respond to Sky News’s request for comment.
Iceland appeared to admit that Meijia had, at one point, been a supplier – but a spokesperson told Sky News: “We can confirm that Iceland is not, nor has not for a significant period, received any products from such sites.
“It is Iceland’s policy to be able to act responsibly in all commercial and trading activities to establish that the working conditions of people working for, and within the supply chain, meet relevant international standards.”
Asked by Sky News, the supermarket did not explain when or why it stopped receiving products.
It also said it was working with international auditing organisations, such as the Ethical Trading Initiative and Sedex, on the issue of relocation of Uyghurs in China.
Yantai Sanko Fisheries workers at ‘political education sessions’ at the factory in 2021. Pic: Yantai United Front Work Department
Sainsbury’s ‘working to understand situation’
Uyghur workers were also deployed to other seafood factories run by the Chishan group, a Chinese conglomerate, according to The Outlaw Ocean Project’s research.
The company supplies Lyons Seafoods, which produces branded and private-label seafood for retailers including Sainsbury’s.
Lyons did not respond to Sky News’s request for comment – but its French parent company Labeyrie had previously told the Outlaw Ocean Project that they were “extremely concerned” by the allegations.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson told Sky News: “All of our suppliers have to meet our high ethical and worker welfare standards.
“If we have any reason to believe there is a situation within our supply chains which is in breach of those standards we take immediate action.
“We are working together with our suppliers and wider industry partners to understand the situation and take the most responsible and appropriate next steps.”
Fish shipments bound for Europe usually pass through Rotterdam – where sometimes they are repackaged in different containers – which can add to the difficulty in tracking shipments.
From there, the seafood shipments arrive at UK ports, such as Felixstowe.
A map showing the supply chain of seafood from China to the UK
‘Human trafficking, wage theft and criminal level of neglect’
As part of a four-year-long investigation, the Outlaw Ocean Project may have revealed other abuses connected to China’s vast fishing fleet – including the story of Daniel Daniel Aritonang, a 20-year-old Indonesian who died from the disease Beriberi after suffering abuse on a Chinese vessel.
Daniel Aritonang
Ian Urbina, the director of the Outlaw Ocean Project, told Sky News: “The human rights and labour crimes – you’re dealing with human trafficking, you’re dealing with death by violence, wage theft, blocking of timely access to medical care, criminal level of neglect in the form of Beriberi, people that are essentially deprived of the key nutrients to be able to survive.
“Vessels that go dark and turn off their transponders and they disappear – all these are well documented crimes as well that are in the marine space.”
Workers being interviewed on board a Chinese squid fishing ship. Pic: Ed Ou
The group that owned the vessel, Rongcheng Wangda, has denied any wrongdoing and has referred the matter to the China Overseas Fisheries Association for investigation. No criminal case been brought.
Chinese government video claiming to show transfer of workers from Xinjiang. Pic: Douyin/Kashgar Media Centre
“The reality is that because it’s out of sight, out of mind, you know, a lot of that is happening over the horizon, quite literally,” David Hammond, chief executive of the NGO Human Rights at Sea, told Sky News.
“Nobody knows what’s going on. So you then have the issue of enforcement and there is a massive lacuna in the enforcement issue from coastal states and international waters.
“And without enforcement, you don’t have a deterrent effect and without deterrent effect, you have impunity.”
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
Winter fuel payments will extend to everyone over the state pension age with an income of or below £35,000 a year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced.
The Treasury said the change will cost around £1.25bn in England and Wales but still save £450m if the universal allowance had been kept.
Politics Live: Chancellor makes winter fuel announcement
Dropping the benefit for all pensioners was one of the first things Labour did in government, despite it not being in their manifesto.
The change meant only those on pension credit or other benefits were eligible – a deeply unpopular move that was widely blamed on the party’s poor performance in May’s local elections.
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Ms Reeves said: “Targeting winter fuel payments was a tough decision, but the right decision because of the inheritance we had been left by the previous government.
“It is also right that we continue to means-test this payment so that it is targeted and fair, rather than restoring eligibility to everyone, including the wealthiest.
“But we have now acted to expand the eligibility of the winter fuel payment so no pensioner on a lower income will miss out.”
The government signalled its intention to widen eligibility last month, but no detail was given on what the new threshold might look like.
The lack of clarity threatened to overshadow Ms Reeves’ spending review on Wednesday, when she will set out what funding has been allocated to each government department over the next three years.
The chancellor repeatedly faced questions on winter fuel during a speech in Manchester last week to promote a £15.6bn funding settlement for local transport projects, when she said changes would be in place for this winter.
However ministers still could not give further detail, with Science Secretary Peter Kyle telling Sky News on Sunday that the new eligibility would be set out “in the run up to the autumn”.
It is still not clear how the new policy will be funded, with the costs to be accounted for in the autumn budget.
Asked by Sky News’ deputy political editor Sam Coates if the change is a signal to markets that she can’t say no to her MPs, Ms Reeves said after her spending review “markets and the public will be able to see public services living within their means”.
‘Humiliating U-turn’
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Keir Starmer has scrambled to clear up a mess of his own making. I repeatedly challenged him to reverse his callous decision to withdraw winter fuel payments, and every time Starmer arrogantly dismissed my criticisms.
“This humiliating u-turn will come as scant comfort to the pensioners forced to choose between heating and eating last winter. The prime minister should now apologise for his terrible judgement.”
The Treasury said that by setting the threshold at an income of £35,000, over three-quarters of pensioners – around nine million people – will benefit.
The universal system meant some 11.4 million pensioners were in receipt of the benefit, which was slashed down to 1.5 million when the initial means-test was brought in.
The new threshold is above the income level of pensioners in poverty and broadly in line with average earnings, the Treasury said.
No pensioner will need to take any action as they will automatically receive the payment this winter.
“It’s a big deal for this government,” says Simon Case.
“It’s the clearest indication yet of what they plan to do between now and the general election, a translation of their manifesto.
“This is where you should expect the chancellor to say, on behalf of the government: ‘This is what we’re about’.”
As the former cabinet secretary, Mr Case was the man in charge of the civil service during the last spending review, in 2021.
On Wednesday, Rachel Reeves will unveil the Labour government’s priorities for the next three years. But it’s unclear whether it will provide all that much of an answer about what it’s really about.
Unlike the Autumn budget, when the chancellor announced her plans on where to tax and borrow to fund overall levels of spending, the spending review will set out exactly how that money is divided up between the different government departments.
Since the start of the process in December those departments have been bidding for their share of the cash – setting out their proposed budgets in a negotiation which looks set to continue right up to the wire.
This review is being conducted in an usual level of detail, with every single line of spending assessed, according to the chancellor, on whether it represents value for money and meets the government’s priorities. Budget proposals have been scrutinised by so called “challenge panels” of independent experts.
It’s clear that health and defence will be winners in this process given pre-existing commitments to prioritise the NHS – with a boost of up to £30bn expected – and to increase defence spending.
On Sunday morning, the government press release trumpeted an impressive-sounding “£86bn boost” to research and development (R&D), with the Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle sent out on the morning media round to celebrate as record levels of investment.
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What will be in spending review?
We’re told this increased spending on the life sciences, advanced manufacturing and defence will lead to jobs and growth across the country, with every £1 in investment set to lead to a £7 economic return.
But the headline figure is misleading. It’s not £86bn in new funding. That £86bn has been calculated by adding together all R&D investment across government for the next three years, which will reach an annual figure of £22.5bn by 2029-30. The figure for this year was already set to be £20.4bn; so while it’s a definite uplift, much of that money was already allocated.
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Peter Kyle also highlighted plans for “the most we’ve ever spent per pupil in our school system”.
I understand the schools budget is to be boosted by £4.5bn. Again, this is clearly an uplift – but over a three-year period, that equates to just £1.5bn a year (compared with an existing budget of £63.7bn). It also has to cover the cost of extending free school meals, and the promised uplift in teachers’ pay.
In any process of prioritisation there are losers as well as winners.
We already know about planned cuts to the Department of Work and Pensions – but other unprotected departments like the Home Office and the Department of Communities and Local Government are braced for a real spending squeeze.
We’ve heard dire warnings about austerity 2.0, and the impact that would have on the government’s crime and policing priorities, its promises around housing and immigration, and on the budgets for cash-strapped local councils.
The chancellor wants to make it clear to the markets she’s sticking to her fiscal rules on balancing the books for day-to-day spending.
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But the decision to loosen the rules around borrowing to fund capital investment have given her greater room to manoeuvre in funding long-term infrastructure projects.
That’s why we’ve seen her travelling around the country this week to promote the £15.6bn she’s spending on regional transport projects.
The Treasury team clearly wants to focus on promoting the generosity of these kind of investments, and we’ll hear more in the coming days.
But there’s a real risk the story of this spending review will be about the departments which have lost out – and the promises which could slip as a result.
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