Thai Union Group is the first buyer to source Asian Seafood Improvement Collaborative shrimp from Thailand.
Thai Union is importing the whiteleg shrimp from ASIC Shrimp Level 1 verified farms, which are equivalent to a Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch’s “Good Alternative” recommendation.
While the global seafood vendor is supplying the shrimp to True Kitchen for use in multiple dishes, it expects other chain restaurants as well as food distributors and retailers to be interested in the responsibly-sourced shrimp, Thai Union told SeafoodSource.
“We are excited to be bringing the first ASIC shrimp to the U.S. market. We plan to continue to grow and develop the farms taking part in this innovative program,” said Roxanne Nanninga, sustainability director of Thai Union North America, in a statement.
The four-year-old ASIC, which is supported by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Santa Monica Seafood, and USAID, works with Asian stakeholders to define the standards for social and environmental improvement of the shrimp industry.
“ASIC is the first improvement program that’s built by stakeholders from the Southeast Asian region, which fosters greater change and stewardship,” said Rosanna Contreras, chair of ASIC.
Phoenix, Arizona-based True Food Kitchen, which prides itself on offering high quality, sustainably sourced ingredients, just heightened its recognition in the United States when Oprah Winfrey made an undisclosed equity investment in the company. Winfrey also joined the restaurant brand's board of directors and will collaborate and consult with True Food Kitchen's leadership team to advance the company's business and marketing objectives.
As a growing business, flavor and consistency are paramount for the 23-unit True Food Kitchen, according to ASIC. “ASIC shrimp checks all of the boxes for our priorities,” said Taylor Domet, director of culinary standards at True Food Kitchen.
“The industry has been turning a blind eye to shrimp aquaculture for too long. ASIC is a groundbreaking initiative that is leading the way to revolutionize shrimp aquaculture and we’re thrilled to be a part of it,” Domet added.
ASIC has other buyers and projects in the works, but cannot identify them, Corey Peet, interim managing director for ASIC, told SeafoodSource.
“We are pursuing partnership projects in Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.”
While ASIC shrimp is currently in the United States and Singaporean markets, ASIC hopes to target both export and regional markets “where opportunities exist,” Peet said.”The goal is to target anyone who sees value in this approach. One of our targets is going to be chefs who want to source storied seafood.”
There are currently limited amounts of the ASIC shrimp from Thailand and Indonesia, “but we have the ability to add more as the demand dictates,” Peet said. “We have been very careful about not over-promising things to farmers, and wanted to see if the market saw value in our approach. The Thai Union/ True Food Kitchen development is a great start we plan to build upon.”
ASIC approaches shrimp aquaculture improvement differently than many organizations, it said, by fostering improvement with the farmers and stakeholders themselves. As a result, ASIC farms and processors are providing environmentally and socially responsible shrimp with fully traceable supply chains.
ASIC is in the process of exploring how to work with Aquaculture Stewardship Council certification, but is not currently working with the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s BAP program.
“While international certification standards for fisheries and aquaculture as well as commitments by international seafood buyers to source responsible seafood already exist, ASIC is expanding the adoption of sustainability standards and incentives for both supplier and buyer,” the group said in a press release.
