Boulogne-Billancourt, FRANCE, 2016-Jul-02 — /EPR Retail News/ — Carrefour France has been awarded MSC Sustainable fishing and ASC Responsible aquaculture certification, a first in France. Around thirty hypermarkets in the Paris region are now selling an extended selection of certified fish in the seafood section.
In what way is Carrefour’s product selection more sustainable?
With this certification, Carrefour can now sell sustainably fished MSC-certified (Marine Stewardship Council) cod in its seafood section, as well as ASC-certified (Aquaculture Stewardship Council) fresh salmon that is the result of responsible aquaculture practices.
Carrefour does more than simply meet the requirements for certification: it also guarantees that this salmon has been fed without GMOs and reared without antibiotics.
These two types of fish are consumed more than any other types in France. They sit alongside the 50 other MSC-certified products already on sale at Carrefour stores in its self-service, frozen and grocery sections. This range of certified species looks set to be expanded in the next few months. Special signage has been set up in stores featuring information designed to raise customers’ awareness of issues to do with sustainable fishing.
The example of certified sole: supporting local fishing while at the same time preserving a species under threat
The seafood section will also be getting another certified product: sole, a fish that is highly appreciated by customers. This is the culmination of a programme that has involved Carrefour supporting the fisheries of netters belonging to the Boulogne-sur-Mer FROM Nord producers’ organisation in Cherbourg in its MSC-certification, awarded in April 2016. Carrefour is also strengthening its roots in the local community and its relationships with local businesses, which supply the company on a daily basis.
The requirements of the MSC and ASC certifications
For it to be able to sell fish bearing the MSC or ASC labels, Carrefour has demonstrated that it is able to meet the requirements of the “Chain of Custody” reference framework. This provides customers with guarantees in relation to the sustainable origins of seafood products, and the responsible way in which they have been farmed.
MSC Sustainable fishing certification for seafood products guarantees that:
• the fish bearing this label have been purchased from MSC-certified suppliers and are from properly-managed fish farms which ensure that appropriate numbers of the species are preserved, together with the associated marine ecosystems,
• MSC-labelled seafood products can be traced from the ocean to the market stall,
• throughout the supply chain, they are kept separate from other products and are methodically managed in order to guarantee customers that they come from an MSC-certified sustainable fishery.
ASC responsible aquaculture certification on products guarantees that:
• the fish are reared such that their well-being is ensured
• the fish-farming practices do not threaten the marine ecosystem in which they are carried out
• the fish farm is managed effectively and usefully in order to ensure its long-term sustainability
Encouraging responsible consumption of seafood products
This new selection of products in the seafood section is in line with Carrefour’s policy of preserving marine biodiversity
with the withdrawal from sale of species under threat (emperor, black scabbard, shark, for example), the provision of support for local sustainable and the tackling of illegal fishing. The aim is to ensure that half of all fish purchased in Carrefour stores are farmed using sustainable fishing methods by 2020.
For all request about the Carrefour Group (sales, financial results, governance, international,…), please contact the Carrefour Group media relations office:
. By phone:
Switchboard: +33 (0)1 41 04 26 00
For journalists: +33 (0)1 41 04 26 17
. By e-mail: presse_groupe@carrefour.com
Source: Carrefour