December 9, 2015

Bidvest partners with Best Aquaculture Practices

The Global Aquaculture Alliance announced that Bidvest Australia and Bidvest Fresh / Direct Seafoods UK had been added to a growing international list of wholesale, retail and foodservice companies partnering with the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) third-party certification programme.

As part of their company-wide sustainability approach, Bidvest Australia and Bidvest Fresh / Direct Seafoods UK will work with their suppliers and the BAP market development team to grow the amount of farmed seafood originating from a BAP-certified facility, with a focus on sourcing four-star BAP products.

Four-star status - the highest achievement in the BAP programme - denotes that the product originates from a BAP-certified processing plant, farm, hatchery and feed mill.

"GAA welcomes and applauds the leadership position that is being formed by Bidvest," said Peter Redmond, BAP's vice president of market development. "It is always difficult to launch a sustainability platform. To do it across continents is difficult, and we recognise the effort and drive that Bidvest has put in to becoming a true leader in this sector."

"Direct Seafoods is committed to sourcing their farmed seafood from robust third-party certified schemes," said Laky Zervudachi, the director of sustainability and epicurean for Direct Seafoods. "We believe that four-star BAP products help us give our clients the security they need to know that their seafood has been responsibly sourced from end to end. With BAP, GAA has created a truly credible third-party certification scheme that enhances our sustainability values and helps give credence to our whole ethos."

Bidvest Australia and Bidvest Fresh / Direct Seafoods UK are part of Bidvest Group Limited, an international investment holding company with investments across the foodservice, broad services, trading and distribution industries.