Italian retailer Carrefour Italy is teaming up with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to offer its customers sustainable seafood products that bear the certification body’s blue ecolabel.
The collaboration was formed following an evaluation of Carrefour’s seafood suppliers, and will serve to promote healthy oceans as well as contribute to the protection of seafood supplies for future generations, both parties determined. Over the months to come, Carrefour will stock various frozen, canned and chilled seafood products with MSC ecolabels, including those that feature anchovies, plaice, cod, wild salmon, albacore tuna and pink shrimp.
Carrefour’s new MSC-label initiative furthers the grocer’s commitment to sustainability, which began to take firm shape in 2007.
"We all have to be aware that our oceans are not an unlimited resource. The only way to ensure access to seafood, to all people, for the future is to ensure sustainable fishing,” said lavia Mare, Corporate Social Responsibility manager of Carrefour Italy, in a prepared statement. “Carrefour's commitment to seafood sustainability began in 2007, with our support of a WWF call to stop the sale of Bluefin tuna. It has continued through the fight against illegal fishing and the constant verification of the minimum catch size of fish. By joining the MSC program, Carrefour continues to demonstrate its commitment to sustainability and the protection of marine resources."
For MSC, the collaboration with Carrefour offers a valuable opportunity to educate Italian consumers about the importance of seafood sustainability.
“We're convinced that this commitment Carrefour will play an important role in educating Italian consumers and seafood producers, helping to create a more sustainable seafood market,” concluded Francesca Oppia, MSC’s Italy Director. “The Italian market is less developed, in terms of sustainability, than other European markets but there are very positive signs. Our experience in Europe shows that retailers can be the real engine in driving seafood sustainability.”
