Sodexo on Wednesday announced that it signed a worldwide agreement with the Marine Stewardship Council to promote MSC-certified seafood across the 80 countries in which it operates and to maximize collaboration with the MSC’s clients and consumers. This makes Sodexo the first foodservice provider to ink a worldwide agreement with the MSC.
The announcement comes less than four months after Sodexo pledged that by 2015 100 percent of its contracted seafood purchases worldwide will originate from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified fisheries or Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)-certified farms.
The pledge to source sustainable seafood is part of Sodexo’s Sustainable Seafood Initiative, one of 14 commitments the Paris-based company made as part of its company-wide sustainability initiative, called the Better Tomorrow Plan.
The seafood strategy includes maintaining a wide variety of species in Sodexo’s catalogs and menus, banning at-risk species and implementing control measures for others, using eco-standards or eco-labels, setting up supply for sustainable aquaculture and developing sourcing according to a collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund.
In 2009, Sodexo became the first foodservice provider in the Netherlands to obtain the MSC eco-label and certification. It has also certified 1,000 sites in the United Kingdom and Ireland with MSC and complies with MSC chain-of-custody requirements in France.
“Under this initiative, Sodexo will continue to work for a collaborative climate to improve fisheries management, promoting awareness of sustainability issues and encouraging suppliers, partners and clients to participate in the MSC program and support sustainable seafood practices,” said Damien Verdier, executive VP and CMO for Sodexo.
