SEAFOODNEWS.COM [SCOM] June 24, 2014 — Chicken of the Sea Frozen Foods, a subsidiary of Thai Union Frozen Products, has issued a statement following Friday's downgrade of Thailand to Tier 3 status in the US annual Trafficking in Persons report.
"Operating with integrity, high ethical standards and upholding human rights is of the utmost importance to Chicken of the Sea Frozen Foods and Thai Union Frozen Product PCL; any form of human trafficking and forced labor is unacceptable," said Bryan Rosenberg, President and CEO of Chicken of hte Sea Frozen Foods.
"We stress ethical procurement of our products, which means abiding by local and international laws and third-party standards for upholding the human rights of workers. Chicken of the Sea Frozen Foods also regularly undergoes stringent customer-specific social audits."
"The problems in Thailand are complex and stem from a myriad of factors, ” continued Rosenberg.
“We as an industry and throughout the supply chain must work together to improve traceability and enforcement of laws and social standards designed to protect workers and ensure operators and consumers that products they purchase are responsibly sourced. ”
Chicken of the Sea Frozen Foods and Thai Union are fiercely committed to preventing human rights violations of any kind, and we work in full cooperation with our customers in order to raise the standard for ethical labor practices within our supply and distribution chains.
We take our responsibility seriously and continually strive to be an accessible, transparent and reliable business partner to our customers, consumers and stakeholders in the U. S. and around the world.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.