Top U.S. Sushi Company Linked to Whaling

[babylonsister]

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37307

ENVIRONMENT:
Top U.S. Sushi Company Linked to Whaling
Stephen Leahy

BROOKLIN, Canada, Apr 11 (IPS) - An investigation has revealed that the U.S. supplier of sushi to more than 6,000 restaurants is associated with a Japanese company that sells millions of tins of whale meat.

Despite a global ban on killing whales, Japan's Kyokuyo, a multinational seafood conglomerate, sells between 10 and 20 million cans of whale meat a year, according to an Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) report released Tuesday.

"Kyokuyo is breaking international laws," said Alan Thornton, president of EIA, an environmental group based in the United States and Britain.

"Since the 1930s, Kyokuyo has been profiting from the deaths of an estimated 130,000 great whales," Thornton told IPS.

There has been a global ban on whaling since 1986. However, the Japanese claim the 1,000 or more whales they hunt each year in the Antarctic Ocean are for scientific research. Whale meat is found in leading Japanese supermarkets, and Kyokuyo is perhaps the leading distributor, he says.

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[Richard D]

1. Damn

No more sushi now. Wonder if they are linked to the moonies?

[Richard D]

2. Just answered my own question

snip
True World Foods is part of the True World Group founded by Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, a controversial religious cult now run by his followers, the Tribune reported Monday. True World Foods CEO Takeshi Yashiro has been a member since at least 1980 when Rev. Moon directed followers to go into the seafood business to support the Church and end world hunger.

snip

Kyokuyo recently partnered with True World Foods of New Jersey, a leading seafood and sushi distributor with 280 million dollars in annual sales, to market frozen sushi under the brand name "Polar Seas Frozen Sushi". The product is slated to hit grocery stores here as early as this summer.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37307