BELLINGHAM, WA – The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) awarded Lou Shaheen and the entire team at Trans-Ocean Products Inc. the 2020 US MSC Ocean Champion Award for their continued dedication to seafood sustainability and for going above and beyond the MSC standard to make MSC certified products available to consumers. Trans-Ocean Products Inc. is the maker of Crab Classic imitation crab, or surimi seafood, featuring MSC certified wild Alaska pollock. Lou Shaheen, VP of Sales & Marketing accepted the award on behalf of the whole Trans-Ocean Products Inc. team.
“Trans-Ocean was an early believer in the benefits of MSC certification. We proudly feature the MSC blue fish label on our packaging and in our marketing because it gives our products added credibility as high quality, sustainably-sourced seafood,” Shaheen commented.
“It is with great pleasure that the MSC US recognizes Trans-Ocean Products Inc. with the MSC US Ocean Champion award. Their diligent and persistent support of the MSC mission and vision has been and continues to be inspiring,” said Eric Critchlow, MSC’s program director, USA. “MSC’s recent consumer insights survey shows that high quality product coupled with third-party sustainability certification resonates with consumers – Trans-Ocean’s success demonstrates that it meets consumers’ preferences as demonstrated by their wallets and forks.”
The MSC US Ocean Champion Award was established in 2017 to reward fisheries and companies engaged in the MSC program who demonstrated continued leadership on sustainability above and beyond the MSC standard requirements. Each awardee includes an internal champion (person or team) who has been an internal catalyst for change demonstrating leadership and the ability to spark positive change within the industry. The glass award featuring a wave with the awardee’s name and company inscribed is handmade in downtown Seattle, WA.
According to a 2020 global study commissioned by MSC 55% of U.S. seafood consumers believe that we must consume seafood only from sustainable sources to protect the ocean. Furthermore, 64% of Americans want retailers’ and brands’ claims about sustainability and the environment to be clearly labeled by an independent organization, such as the MSC. Trans-Ocean Inc. is leading on third party labels with the complete product line MSC certified and carrying the MSC blue fish label on package.
Trans-Ocean Products Inc. was among the first US seafood brands to gain MSC Chain of Custody (CoC) certification and include the MSC blue fish label on product. Trans-Ocean Products Inc. has been at the forefront of promoting MSC as a mark of environmental responsibility to the consumer market, and has featured MSC message in consumer advertising and other promotional activities helping to encourage Americans to buy seafood that’s good for them and good for the ocean.
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About the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)
The Marine Stewardship Council is an international non-profit organization. Our vision is for the world’s oceans to be teeming with life, and seafood supplies safeguarded for this and future generations. Our blue label and certification program recognizes and rewards sustainable fishing practices and is helping create a more sustainable seafood market. More than 370 fisheries in over 36 countries are certified to the MSC’s Standard. These fisheries have a combined annual seafood production of over eleven million metric tons, representing almost 15% of global marine catch. More than 38,000 seafood products worldwide carry the MSC label. For more information visit www.msc.org or follow @MSCBlueFish on social media.
About Trans-Ocean Products Inc.
Founded in 1985, Trans-Ocean Products, Inc. is one of the country’s largest processors of surimi seafoods, which are sold under the Crab Classic, Simply Surimi, Jaiba Supremo and Seafood Snackers brand names, and also as private labels. Trans-Ocean’s processing plant in Bellingham, WA is the only certified, 100% gluten free facility in the domestic surimi seafood industry. The vertically integrated company is a United States subsidiary of Maruha-Nichiro which owns three surimi block plants in Alaska as well as partial ownership of three floating processor ships in the North Pacific. For more information, please contact Trans-Ocean Products, Inc. at 350 West Orchard Drive, Bellingham, WA 98225, call (800) 290-2722 or visit www.trans-ocean.com or www.facebook.com/crabclassic.
Caption: Lou Shaheen, VP of Sales & Marketing at Trans-Ocean Products Inc. accepts the MSC US Ocean Champion Award. Credit: Kimberly Michele Photography/MSC
