Southeastern Grocers commits to buying 4-star BAP seafood

Southeastern Grocers, the parent company of U.S. supermarket chains Bi-Lo, Harveys and Winn-Dixie grocery stores, has pledged to purchase all its farmed seafood from 4-star Best Aquaculture Practices-certified farms by 2018.

Southeastern Grocers owns and operates more than 750 grocery stores in seven southeastern U.S. states, making it the second-largest supermarket group in the region.

The Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) program has developed a 1 to 4-star rating for its certified farms. A 4-star rating requires an aquaculture site to “promote quality habitat, social well-being, protected hatcheries and balanced nutrition,” according to a press release.

Southeastern has already committed to disclosing the country of origin, method of catch, and source location of all of its wild-caught seafood and pledged to working “with reputable suppliers that source seafood from sustainable environments to ensure of our wild seafood is caught responsibly.”

“At Southeastern Grocers, it is our mission to provide consistent, high-quality seafood that is delicious, fresh, and sourced responsibly, whether that is fresh or frozen,” Southeastern Grocers’ Executive Vice President of Merchandising Scott Morris said. “We know how important it is to have fish for now and fish for the future. To ensure this, we must focus on sustainable ways of providing customers with quality product with minimal environmental impact.”

In addition to its buying pledges, Southeastern Grocers has partnered with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP), the Marine Stewardship Council and the World Wildlife Fund to determine what fisheries are sustainable, and the grocery chain is the only American retail member of the International Pole and Line Foundation.

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