On September 4, 2024, four members of the House Committee on Natural Resources – Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA), Ranking Member Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), and Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) – sent a joint letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) questioning the legality of the Global Seafood Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) program. The Members of Congress explained their concerns regarding the BAP program and asked three questions of the FTC:
“Third-party certifications: Third-party certifications help consumers to easily recognize if a product and its production align with their values. As stated under 16 CFR § 260.6, ‘Third-party certification does not eliminate a marketer’s obligation to ensure that it has substantiation for all claims reasonably communicated by the certification.’ Despite the certification prohibiting antibiotics, the business willingly deceived consumers by shipping antibiotic-contaminated shrimp shipments to the U.S. and labeling it BAP-certified.
a. How does the FTC ensure that third-party certifications such as BAP are not being used to deceive Americans?
b. Given the recent reporting, has the FTC initiated any work investigating Global Seafood Alliance for certifying aquaculture farms in India using forged documents?
c. What work has FTC done and planned with companies such as Choice Canning who use a third-party certification despite knowingly not adhering to the certification guidelines?”
Earlier today, the Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL) and the Southern Shrimp Alliance followed up on these concerns by filing a formal petition requesting that the FTC stop any further dissemination of false or deceptive advertising practices of the Global Seafood Alliance through the BAP program.
In the jointly-filed petition, CAL described the findings made in the organization’s three-year, on the ground investigation of the Indian shrimp industry regarding forced labor practices and environmental damage associated with BAP-certified facilities. Specifically, CAL provided detailed information of circumstances found by both their investigators and alleged by a whistleblower working with The Outlaw Ocean Project regarding the operations of two major Indian shrimp processing and exporting companies that are BAP-certified.
For its part, the Southern Shrimp Alliance noted that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) repeatedly reports on the detection of banned veterinary drugs in shrimp exported to the United States by BAP-certified processors, particularly those in India.
In today’s petition, CAL and the Southern Shrimp Alliance allege that through the BAP-certification program, the Global Seafood Alliance misleads consumers into believing that the imported, farm-raised shrimp they are purchasing was produced in a safe, responsible, and ethical manner. CAL’s extensive investigation into labor practices at BAP-certified facilities in India and the FDA’s consistent findings of banned antibiotics in shrimp shipped by BAP-certified companies belie these representations.
“Every member of our industry wants the shrimp offered for sale in the U.S. market to have been produced free of slave labor, dangerous antibiotics, and environmental degradation,” said John Williams, Executive Director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “However, despite its claims to the contrary, the BAP program has not improved standards in foreign shrimp supply chains. Instead, by relying on the BAP certification, importers and shrimp purchasers have avoided taking responsibility for cleaning up their supply chains.”
Review the September 4, 2024 letters sent by Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA), Ranking Member Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), and Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) to the FTC, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the FDA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, NOAA, and The Council on Environmental Quality here: https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/September-4-2024-Letters-from-House-Natural-Resources-Committee.pdf
Read the Corporate Accountability Lab’s and Southern Shrimp Alliance’s joint petition to the Federal Trade Commission (Nov. 1, 2024) here:https://shrimpalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/CAL-and-SSA-BAP-FTC-Petition-Nov-1-2024-As-Filed.pdf