In 2011, Canada Safeway made an important commitment to shift their procurement of fresh and frozen seafood to sustainable sources. Over the past five years Canada Safeway has worked diligently towards this goal and 92 per cent of seafood sold was from sustainable sources as of the end of 2015. This marks a large improvement from 2012 where only 51 per cent of seafood sold met Safeway’s commitment.
Canada Safeway partnered with SeaChoice in 2011 as part of their corporate social responsibility mandate. The core of Canada Safeway’s policy stated that by 2015, all fresh and frozen seafood will be sourced from sustainable sources, or be in a credible improvement project.
SeaChoice congratulates Canada Safeway for achieving 92 per cent of their seafood commitment. “Canada Safeway made a robust sustainable seafood commitment and they have demonstrated true leadership in the major grocer world by making such significant progress towards their commitment,” said Karen Wristen, SeaChoice member and Executive Director from the Living Oceans Society.
Many red-listed species including Russian king crab, shark, barramundi, and squid have been completely eliminated, leaving only a few species such as salmon and rockfish. The transition of remaining red-listed species is well underway – red-ranked farmed salmon is being replaced by green ranked land-based farmed Kuterra salmon and Safeway is working towards only sourcing yellow ranked Canadian rockfish. “Canada Safeway has made great progress by investing in innovative solutions to complex seafood issues and we are pleased to have concrete next steps in removing the remaining 8 per cent of unranked and red-listed seafood,” said Jason Bater, Seafood Category Manager for Thrifty Foods.
SeaChoice
SeaChoice, Canada’s most comprehensive sustainable seafood program is about solutions for healthy oceans. Launched in 2006, SeaChoice was created to help Canadian businesses and shoppers take an active role in supporting sustainable fisheries and aquaculture at all levels of the seafood supply chain. Based on scientific research, SeaChoice has created easy-to-use tools that help you make the best seafood choices. www.SeaChoice.org
For more information:
Lana Brandt, National SeaChoice Manager
778.833.295
Source: SeaChoice
