In the wake of\u00a0Corporate Accountability Lab, Associated Press, and Outlaw Ocean reports\u00a0alleging forced labor and antibiotic use in the Indian shrimp industry, the Seafood Task Force (STF) has committed itself and its partners, some of which include Indian shrimp companies, toward taking the lead on improving labor practices across the industry.<\/p>\n
In early March, the STF, a U.S.-based nonprofit trade association representing major retailers, brands, foodservice companies, and supply chain partners,\u00a0added 17 new Asian member companies\u00a0into its ranks, including top Indian shrimp exporter Devi Sea Foods.<\/p>\n
The new additions, as well as the focus the task force has placed on South and Southeast Asia, has increased the importance of an upcoming STF meeting in Mumbai in late April, where the issues featured in the reports will be discussed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis meeting will apply STF-tested models and approaches to the new group, with meeting agenda highlights including bringing all key stakeholders together \u2026 sharing best practices from our work in Thailand \u2026 [and] setting clear expectations,\u201d STF Executive Director Martin Thurley said in a recent member briefing.<\/p>\n
The Seafood Task Force\u00a0was created in 2014\u00a0to address illegal and forced labor in Thailand\u2019s seafood supply chain, an issue\u00a0brought to light by an Associated Press investigation. Since its inception,\u00a0the STF has concentrated on pushing its members to meet ESG standards and due diligence requirements.<\/p>\n
On 10 March, a panel at the 2024 Seafood Expo North America featuring representatives from STF members Bumble Bee, Starkist, Costco, Walmart, and Thai Union\u00a0focused on the task force\u2019s step-by-step process to help restore global market confidence in seafood sourced from Asia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are imperfect. We use that as our internal motto,\u201d Thurley said. \u201cWe do not let perfection get in the way of progress. We want retailers and brands to have confidence in the supply chain all the way back to the vessels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thurley specifically highlighted the STF\u2019s work with small-scale farmers in Thailand and the effectiveness of its \u201cboots-on-the-ground\u201d approach to ensuring compliance and responsible practices.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to go discover and find out what\u2019s going on in these operations,\u201d Thurley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen talking about Thailand, we went down and visited and did such things as going to a recruitment agency to fully understand what was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":4,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[177],"tags":[450,1998],"region":[28],"source":[1283],"country":[1949],"state":[],"city":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newss\/117012"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newss"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/newss"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newss\/117012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117013,"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newss\/117012\/revisions\/117013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117012"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=117012"},{"taxonomy":"source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/source?post=117012"},{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=117012"},{"taxonomy":"state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/state?post=117012"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=117012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}