Lidl becomes UK’s third biggest retailer of MSC certified fish
Discount supermarket Lidl has more than doubled its range of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fish over the last year to become the third largest in the UK, behind Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, who have both also increased their product range.
More than half of Lidl’s wild-caught seafood range (79 out of 148 products) now carries the MSC’s blue tick ecolabel, which gives shoppers an independent assurance that the product has been fished sustainably and is traceable from ocean to plate.
Sainsbury’s remains the UK's biggest retailer of MSC certified seafood, a position it has held for six years. Its shoppers can now choose from a record-setting 200 MSC labelled products - more than twice the number offered by any other UK retailer. Currently, 76% of Sainsbury’s wild-caught seafood has been MSC certified as sustainable, and the supermarket has made a commitment to independently certify 100% of its seafood as sustainable by 2020.
Waitrose offers 86 MSC certified products and within the last 12 months it has achieved MSC certification for several new products, including tuna niçoise sandwiches and salads that are served in Waitrose cafés.
Aldi also increased its commitment to ecolabelled seafood last year. The discounter now offers 54 products that are MSC certified as sustainable, a far bigger range than most of the ‘big four’ and more than some grocers known for their ethical sourcing, such as M&S and the Co-op, which itself added nine more MSC product lines last year.
Published Thursday 28 January 2016
Sustainable Fish: A campaign to protect precious marine environments and fishing livelihoods, and call for fish to be bought from sustainable sources. We want to show what can be done if people and organisations make a concerted effort to change their buying habits.
