Haarlem, Netherlands-based Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) has announced that it is welcoming MarinTrust as an Affiliated Partner and Culimer U.S.A. as a Funding Partner.
London, United Kingdom-based MarinTrust maintains a number of standards that relate to ingredients in aquatic- and land-animal feed. These include a Factory Standard, a Chain of Custody Standard, and an Improver Programme, all of which are intended to ensure that certified companies have sustainable value chains.
GSSI said the partnership will enhance sustainability by leveraging the organizations’ strengths and broadening industry engagement with traceable marine ingredients.
GSSI CEO Øyvind Ihle said that he was confident the partnership with MarinTrust would “help promote greater clarity, confidence, and choice at the feed level – a critical part of the value chain that deserves attention.”
“While GSSI’s Global Benchmark Tool focuses on recognising seafood certification schemes that meet internationally accepted sustainability criteria, MarinTrust works at the factory and ingredient level, certifying marine ingredient production facilities and their sourcing practices. This important distinction highlights the complementary roles our organisations play in supporting responsible sourcing and sustainability across the entire seafood and aquaculture supply chain,” said Ihle.
MarinTrust CEO Francisco Aldon said that he had “no doubt that MarinTrust’s deep knowledge of the marine ingredient value chain will greatly complement GSSI’s scope and serve as the bridge linking fisheries and aquaculture. I expect this partnership to support MarinTrust’s efforts to increase the availability of certified marine ingredients by utilizing GSSI-recognised schemes.”
GSSI also announced Torrence, California-based Culimer, a sustainable importer and wholesaler which primarily serves the U.S. sushi market, is becoming a funding partner.
"Sustainability is rooted in trust, transparency, and collaboration and guaranteed through multi-level traceability," Culimer Vice President Renee Perry said. “As a Funding Partner of GSSI, we reaffirm our commitment to the highest sustainability, traceability, and social responsibility standards and rely significantly on GSSI's benchmarking,” she continued.
Perry said GSSI’s partnership with the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI) of The Consumer Goods Forum was a draw for the company, which values social responsibility.
“This partnership enables us to drive meaningful progress in responsible sourcing by working with GSSI to continuously evolve the benchmarks to continue to be both relevant and challenging and beneficial to all stakeholders from one end of the supply chain to the other,” Perry said.
