Sysco makes seafood pledge to MSC
Sep 29, 2011
Sysco Corporation has pledged to assess its current seafood supply and, by 2015, develop ways to improve the sustainability of its seafood-buying practices and standards. Specifically, the company will obtain its top ten Sysco brand wild-caught seafood species -- which represent about 52 percent of the Sysco-branded seafood product line -- from fisheries that are either certified, under assessment by the MSC or involved in fishery improvement projects with World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Wild-caught seafood products on that list include tuna, clams, cod, pollock, shrimp, scallops, salmon, calamari, lobster and crab.
Sysco has also agreed to encourage its tuna suppliers to engage in the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation in order to move toward long-term procurement from sustainable, MSC certified tuna sources.
Craig Watson, Sysco's vice president of agricultural sustainability, said: "We believe that this level of supply-chain engagement will help with greater efforts to improve the health of the oceans and fisheries that we share."
Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. The company operates 177 distribution facilities serving approximately 400,000 customers.
