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March 12, 2008 (Seattle, WA)—Today the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) announced that the first certified sustainable shrimp product has hit the market. Tai Foong USA’s Northern Chef frozen cooked salad shrimp bearing the blue oval MSC logo are now on sale at Wegmans Food Markets.
The sustainably sourced wild-harvest shrimp come from the Oregon pink shrimp fishery, which in December of 2007 became the world’s first shrimp fishery to achieve MSC sustainability certification. The MSC is a global, independent nonprofit organization that has developed an internationally recognized standard for certifying sustainable, environmentally responsible and well-managed wild capture fisheries.
Through its Chain of Custody program, the MSC also certifies that throughout the processing and supply chain, any product bearing the MSC label has not been co-mingled with uncertified seafood. Independent third-party certifiers assessed both the Oregon pink shrimp trawl fishery and Tai Foong to the MSC standard before the Northern Chef salad shrimp was approved for use of the MSC label, which assures consumers that the product is from a sustainable fishery.
Davy Lam, president of Tai Foong USA, explained that his company is committed to procuring only environmentally friendly seafood products. “Working closely with the MSC and using the MSC blue eco-label on our products allows us to make our commitment to sustainability clear to consumers,” he said.
As of this week, the MSC-labeled Oregon pink shrimp product is available in the frozen seafood section of all 70 Wegmans Food Markets across the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States.
“Wegmans always strives to offer the highest quality seafood products to its customers, and that means offering products that are environmentally responsible,” said Carl Salamone, vice president of seafood for Wegmans. “Working with the Marine Stewardship Council and carefully selecting our individual partner suppliers allows us to be proud of the seafood we display in our cases. We’re very excited to offer the first MSC-certified shrimp to our customers.”
Brad Ack, MSC’s regional director for the Americas, praised the Oregon pink shrimp fishery, Tai Foong USA and Wegmans for bringing the first certified-sustainable shrimp to the market. “Shrimp is one of the most popular seafood items in the world,” he said, “but shrimp harvesting has come under the spotlight for its environmental impacts. Now consumers concerned about those impacts can enjoy shrimp and know they aren’t contributing to any harm to ocean ecosystems when they choose the package with the MSC blue eco-label.”
MSC-labeled Northern Chef shrimp will soon be available in other stores across the U.S.A.— including the Schnucks and Super One Foods supermarket chains—and internationally.
About MSC:
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is an international nonprofit organization that was created in 1997 to promote solutions to the problem of overfishing and its impacts on the world’s oceans. The MSC runs an internationally recognized environmental certification and eco-labeling program for sustainability in wild capture fisheries. It is the only seafood eco-label that is consistent with the ISEAL Code of Good Practice for Setting Social and Environmental Standards and the UN’s FAO guidelines for fisheries certification. The FAO ‘Guidelines for the Eco-labeling of Fish and Fishery Products from Marine Capture Fisheries’, require that credible fishery certification and eco-labeling schemes include:
- Objective, third-party fishery assessment utilizing scientific evidence;
- Transparent processes with built-in stakeholder consultation and objection procedures;
- Standards based on the sustainability of target species, ecosystems and management practices.
In total, more than 100 fisheries are currently engaged in the MSC program with 26 certified, 65 under assessment and another 20 to 30 in confidential pre-assessment. Taken together, these fisheries record annual catches of more than 5 million tons of seafood. They represent more than 42 percent of the world’s wild salmon catch, 40 percent of the world’s prime whitefish catch, and 18 percent of the world’s lobster catches for human consumption. Worldwide, over 1,100 seafood products resulting from the certified fisheries bear the blue MSC eco-label. For more information, please visit www.msc.org.
About Tai Foong USA:
Since 1991, Tai Foong USA has been the source for quality seafood for many of the premier retail and foodservice operators in the United States. From its headquarters in Seattle, Washington, Tai Foong manages a network of harvesters and processors throughout the world to bring its customers the highest quality products available on the market. Tai Foong seafood products are available in three major brands: Northern King, Northern Chef, and Royal Asia. Tai Foong USA was named by CEO Magazine as one of the “Top 150 Privately Held Companies in Washington State” in 2004. For more information, visit www.dine-well.com.
About Wegmans:
Wegmans Food Markets, a 70-store supermarket chain with stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland. The family-owned company, founded in 1916, is recognized as an industry leader and innovator. Wegmans has been named one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by FORTUNE magazine for ten consecutive years, ranking #1 in 2005. In 2008, Wegmans ranked #3 on FORTUNE's list. For more information, visit www.wegmans.com.
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