Rarely does a week pass without a supplier, restaurateur or retailer making news on the sustainable seafood front, and this week was certainly no exception: Wegmans added to the list of "unsustainable" seafood species it will not sell and bolstered its Web site with information on the sustainable seafood species it carries; Loblaws released its second annual corporate social responsibility report, touting its launch of 10 Marine Stewardship Council-certified seafood products last year; Bon Appétit Management Co. divulged that meeting its carbon-reduction goal of eliminating air-freight seafood is proving to be harder than anticipated; and Sodexo became the Netherlands' first contract caterer to receive MSC certification.
Though news of the sustainable seafood movement peppered this week's coverage, it wasn't the only subject that caught SeafoodSource readers' eyes. Here's a peek at the stories that received the most hits this week:
1) Good fish, bad fish: Wegmans is busy keeping its customers abreast of its role in the sustainable seafood movement. The 72-store Rochester, N.Y.-based supermarket chain added Atlantic halibut to its list of seafood it will not sell , which includes bluefin tuna and all species of shark and marlin, and augmented its Web site with information on the sustainable seafood species it carries.
2) What's in a name? Apparently, the British don't fancy the word "pollock." So Sainsbury's rebranded Atlantic pollock after its French counterpart, colin, to stimulate soft sales of the whitefish. The British retail giant said its customers are not identifying with pollock.
3) Safety first: HealthPro Brands and the University of Georgia announced a technology licensing agreement that will allow HealthPro to expand the range of applications for FIT, an anti-microbial food wash that kills pathogens on seafood . The re-formulated food wash kills harmful microbes faster and doesn't interfere with the shelf life of sensitive foods.
4) Pollock pioneer dies: Rick Muir , American Seafoods Co.'s VP of sales, passed away after a battle with cancer. Well respected throughout the U.S. seafood industry, Muir played a key role in developing the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers and was actively involved in the National Fisheries Institute.
5) Greenpeace on the attack: Alcampo and Carrefour were among the supermarket chains Greenpeace-Spain targeted as part of its new campaign promoting its red list of 15 unsustainable seafood species. Protestors at a Madrid Alcampo draped a huge banner that said "Alcampo Destroying the Oceans" and a large inflated black fishbone across the storefront. SeafoodSource correspondent Chris Dove was on the ground in Málaga, Spain, covering the event.
April 9, 2009
