The U.K. University Caterers Organization (TUCO) has teamed up with the Marine Stewardship Council to offer its members a fast-track way to put MSC certified fish on their menus. The new system will make MSC certification simpler, quicker and less expensive for members, many of whom want to serve fish that is demonstrably sustainable.
The TUCO initiative was launched at TUCO’s sustainability-themed annual conference this week.
By joining the group, university caterers will be supporting sustainable fisheries and will receive ready-made documents and materials needed for the MSC’s chain of custody traceability certification.
“TUCO has always been about using the size of our joint management to provide benefits to caterers and when we discovered that we could make MSC certification more accessible for universities by forming a large group, we knew it would be something that would be of real value to them,” said Julie Barker, TUCO managing director. “As sustainable sourcing of all ingredients, particularly fish, is such a key issue for the foodservice industry, we felt this was a strategically important move for our members, and set up a working party led and coordinated by our contracts officer, Jane Eve.
“The group is a great way for us to be able to support the work of the MSC by getting more sustainable fish on more menus — we’re really excited about the amount of interest we’ve had already.”
