UK retailer Marks & Spencer has launched an interactive map that allows customers to trace the source of its entire range of fish and seafood items.
It is the first of its kind for major retailers in the UK and shares information about capture or farming methods, and sustainability information for every fishery or farm from which the retailer sources its seafood.
Transparent Supply Chain
M&S’s marine biologist, Hannah Macintyre, said, “Transparency is an important part of the trust that our customers and stakeholders put in us. That’s why we’ve published this smart tool, which lays bare our whole fish supply chain, wherever it is in the world and however it is fished or farmed.”
The map contains information about 47 different types of fish and seafood items that the retailer sells, as well as details of around 71 fisheries spread across 29 countries.
For fish caught in the wild, the map shares information about the country of origin, catch method, and the certification status of the fishery.
'Responsible Approach'
The seafood manager of WWF, Clarus Chu, said, “All businesses need to take a responsible approach to seafood sourcing if we’re to protect and restore our precious oceans.
“It’s a great step for M&S to be increasing transparency in this way and showing how the fisheries they source from are improving,” added Chu.
In the case of farmed fish, the map shows the location of the farm by country and region, the farming method, M&S Select Farm status, and whether the farm is third-party certified.
According to the map, suppliers in the UK fish for around 16 species in UK waters. These include herring, monkfish, plaice, lemon sole, haddock, brill, hake and mackerel.
The new map is an addition to the M&S Interactive supply chain map, which lists the information about all M&S suppliers across different product categories.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
