The Narong Seafood Co. Ltd. shrimp processing plant in Samutsakorn, Thailand, will retain its Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification, following an unannounced audit by the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA).
A report by Warehouse Workers United and the International Labor Rights Forum made severe allegations about Narong Seafood, alleging that the company mistreated its workers.
Two auditors inspected the plant in June and interviewed dozens of employees to attain first-hand knowledge of the working conditions, checked the company's records back to January 2012 and gathered more than 300 pages of objective evidence.
After more than 30 hours at the plant, the auditors found no evidence at the time of the audit substantiating the allegations made in the report. The auditors did find a number of non-conformities in the plant, but these have been described by the GAA as “isolated instances rather than systematic problems”.
