High Liner Foods has said it will add the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s Alaska Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) certification program for its wild harvested seafood.
High Liner Foods, based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, is one of the largest seafood companies in North America, with more than USD 1 billion (EUR 918 million) in annual sales. The company said it will update its responsible sourcing criteria by adding the Alaska RFM certification to its toolkit.
In July, the Alaska RFM became the first certification program to meet the standards for governance, operations and fisheries management required by the GSSI, an international benchmarking platform for sustainability supported by seafood companies, NGOs, scientific experts and governmental and intergovernmental organizations.
“We are excited to see the Alaska RFM program recognized by the GSSI benchmark on July 12, 2016 as a credible eco-certification program,” High Liner Foods Vice President of Quality Assurance, Sustainability and Government Affairs Bill DiMento said in a press release. “We look forward to working with our customers to help them understand the significance and importance of mutual recognition of the Alaska RFM as a credible addition to their responsible purchasing criteria.”
High Liner Foods is an active GSSI partner and is committed to the development of the GSSI benchmark framework based on the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) code of conduct for responsible fisheries (CCRF), DiMento said.
In addition, High Liner has committed to adding all GSSI-approved certification programs to its responsible sourcing criteria.
