Between 2020 and 2024, Quality Foods was investigated for criminal infractions and was the target of several instances of civil unrest, according to an investigation by The Outlaw Ocean Project. These centered on industrial pollution allegedly caused by Quality Foods, and protests by the local population in response to environmental violations.
On November 5, 2020, a team of government investigators raided fishmeal plants in the Cuncolim Industrial Estate in Goa, India. They were trying to figure out how these plants might be disposing of their toxic waste. The raids targeted four companies: United Marine Products, Quality Foods, Sagar Feeds and Food Processing Industries, and Indotech Ice and Cold Storage.1 The raids had been triggered by ongoing complaints from local residents that the fishmeal plants were contaminating their drinking water and making people and livestock sick. The inspectors quickly found answers to their questions. Using ground penetrating radar, they discovered hidden bore holes that plant operators had dug to dump waste and wastewater. The bore wells were likely contaminating groundwater, according to inspectors who worked for the Goa State Pollution Control Board, which soon announced plans to file criminal charges, imposed suspensions, and issued fines on the plants. These plans were halted, however, due to pressure from politicians and industrial lobbyists, criminal charges were never filed, according to local news reports.2 This inaction led to civilian efforts including blockading the trucks carrying fish waste in October 2024, and protests in December 2024.3
One of the plants raided and found to be dumping wastewater through “illegal boreholes” was Quality Foods Seafood Processor and Exporter, according to local news outlet oHeraldo.4 The company processes and sells seafood for human consumption as well as fishmeal, according to their Facebook page.5 In a photo of their factory posted to Facebook in 2015, the company markets under the brand name Sea Island.6 They also distributed their products under the brand names Viva and Seamac, and claimed to export their products to Thailand, China, Vietnam, Egypt, Hong Kong, Iraq, Peru, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Dubai, and some African countries, according to a company promotional video posted on YouTube.7
The complaints about Quality Foods and the other plants continued. On March 31, 2023, Leader of the Opposition of Goa Legislative Assembly, Yuri Alemao, addressed the Goa Legislative Assembly on the issues of pollution by fishmeal plants in Cuncolim and the suffering of the area’s residents. He called the fishmeal industry “a curse” on Cuncolim.8 By October 22, 2023, Cuncolim residents gathered to protest pollution caused by local industry, primarily attributed to fishmeal production.9 Roughly two months later, the residents of Cuncolim held a candlelight march to protest against industrial pollution in their area.10 By April 18, 2024, local anger intensified. A group of Cuncolim villagers blocked a truck that they suspected of dumping effluents from one of the fishmeal plants in the Cuncolim Industrial Estate. Police soon intervened in the industry-villager clash, and seized the truck suspected of illegal dumping.11
By the fall of 2024, there were signs of possible change. On September 21, 2024, the Goa State Pollution Control Board ordered Quality Foods and United Marine Products to cease operations immediately. The directive was short-lived, however.12 By October 4, 2024, Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira said that he had decided to “unseal” the previously suspended plants in Cuncolim Industrial Estate. If the plants were caught polluting again, Sequeira warned, they would be shut down permanently.13 The political leader of the opposition party from Cuncolim, Yuri Alemao, soon questioned publicly whether there might be a potential “law and order situation.”14 Alemao also said that fish processing units were continuing to discharge untreated water into local water bodies.15 By October 16, 2024, local people had enough and they blocked fish trucks at Cuncolim.16 A month later, on November 17, 2024, Quality Foods and other fishmeal processing plants of Cuncolim Industrial Estate announced that they would begin using their waste water to power nearby steel mills, according to the Times of India.17
In May 2024, inspectors from the Veraval District Collectors office and forest department conducted a joint raid of 11 companies accused of unlawfully procuring prohibited wood to run their boilers. One of the companies raided was Quality Foods.18 The other 10 companies were: Amber Sea Foods, Asian Aquatic, Coastal Aquatic Proteins, Reva Protein, Premium Marine Products, Coastal Aquatic, United Marine Products, Amar Limited (Hiravati), Pacific Marine Products, National Marine Products, King Fish Products.19
Quality Foods failed to respond to a request for comment.20