Hannaford Supermarkets on Wednesday said it has put into place a sustainable policy that encapsulates all seafood across the store — from fresh fish and shellfish to canned and packaged goods to frozen products.
Hannaford called it the “first and only” major grocery chain to implement the “broadest sustainable seafood policy” in the U.S. industry.
“We know where all the seafood items in our store come from,” said George Parmenter, sustainability manager for Hannaford, at an in-store press conference Wednesday.
Parmenter said the new policy was developed with help from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, and traces each of more than 2,500 products back to where they were sourced, down to the precise fishery.
The store’s policy for wild seafood requires products are caught in a fishery that is under a scientifically based management plan. The policy on farmed seafood demands that production doesn’t harm communities, workers, the environment or human health.
Products that don’t meet those requirements aren’t sold at Hannaford.
According to the chain, more than 50 products including varieties of mackerel, clam, snapper, tuna and crab have been replaced by others that are harvested sustainably.
Each product can be traced to its origin using an online system, said Parmenter, and there’s an audit protocol in place that includes spot checks to ensure the products continue to meet Hannaford’s demands.
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