Wegmans Food Markets on Tuesday announced in its “Fresh Stories” blog that it is discontinuing sales of farmed shrimp from Belize Aquaculture Ltd. because the company is closing.
Mary Ellen Burris, the Rochester, N.Y.-based retailer’s senior VP of communications, said in the blog entry that Bowen and Bowen Ltd. has opted to close Belize Aquaculture; Sir Barry Bowen, its owner, died in a plane crash in February 2010.
“We are diligently sourcing the world for a replacement,” she said. “Not an easy task.”
In October 2007, Wegmans announced that it teamed up with Environmental Defense to develop what it deemed a “first-of-a-kind” purchasing policy for farmed shrimp addressing the environmental and health effects of shrimp farming. Belize Aquaculture was the first shrimp supplier to adhere to the policy, which required companies to meet 12 criteria, including eliminating the use of antibiotics and pesticides.
“We invite other retailers to step up to the plate and source shrimp” according to Wegmans’ policy, Jeanne Colleluori, the company’s communications specialist, told SeaFood Business magazine at the time.
Wegmans operates 78 supermarkets in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia,and Maryland. Its first New England store is due to open in Northborough, Mass., in October.
