January 28, 2010

Safeway goes for sustainable seafood

Leading grocery retailer Safeway Inc. announced on Tuesday (Jan 26) that it will partner non-profit organisation FishWise to develop and implement a more comprehensive sustainable seafood policy.

FishWise helps seafood retailers, distributors and producers improve their sustainability and financial performance.

Safeway will require its suppliers participate in sustainability assessments and sourcing improvement plans. The chain will also train staff on its sustainability policy and provide science-based information on sustainable seafood to its customers.

By deploying a detailed sourcing assessment for Safeway, FishWise will prioritise suppliers and products for environmental improvement plans. The plans will be developed and employed in the coming years, helping Safeway's seafood purchases gradually become more sustainable.

Safeway will implement a traceability system to filter out suppliers of seafood products that do not meet its new policy. The chain will stop selling the overfished species grouper, red snapper and monkfish until their stocks recover.

FishWise will also create a staff training programme focusing on the key components of seafood sustainability.

Safeway is one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company runs 1,730 stores in the US and western Canada and had annual sales of US$44.1 billion in 2008.