Greenpeace released new rankings today for its "seafood sustainability scorecard," first introduced in June 2008, which grades 20 national and regional U.S. supermarket chains on the environmental impact of their seafood purchasing and sales practices and policies.
The new scorecard gives a "passing" grade to four supermarket chains -- Whole Foods, Ahold USA, Target, and Harris Teeter -- for scoring more than 40% on Greenpeace's scale (all 20 chains were given a failing grade last June). Trader Joe's was ranked the lowest (#17) of all of the national supermarket chains surveyed. The stores were evaluated on their development and implementation of sustainable seafood policies and practices, transparency and labeling, and the number of species for sale on Greenpeace's "red list" (which includes fish such as orange roughy, swordfish, and Chilean sea bass).
"While many supermarkets seek to green their image, the bottom line is that they are contributing to the crisis facing our oceans," said Greenpeace’s Oceans Campaign Director John Hocevar in a press release. "The initial steps being taken to implement sustainability policies and practices are the right ones, but bigger strides are needed to prevent the collapse of our marine ecosystems."
This is not surprising but disturbing just the same. We can still help each other learn how to make better choices. My annual blog event called Teach a Man to Fish included top chefs, food writers, home cooks.
Everyone shared recipes, tips and I compiled a resource list - I invite your readers to join next year and to use our collected wisdom to make better choices for themselves and the planet. http://tinyurl.com/6alsfr
Cheers-
Jacqueline Church
For the first time, Greenpeace also included a Green Seafood Grocers section. These retailers actively engage with the NGO community through partnership with FishWise, a nonprofit seafood consultancy. According to the Greenpeace methodology, these companies are the "greenest" purveyors of seafood. By using the look up by state feature, you may find a FishWise member retailer near you!
Talk about hidden in plain sight. How have I not visited this site before? Thanks so much. I'll be back again and again.
Greenpeace has named Whole Foods Market [WFMI] the number one retailer in the United States in seafood sustainability for its program of selling sustainably harvested seafood in its stores.
Visit our new site GastroBuzz to track food talk on Twitter.
Economics, diplomacy and "olfactory challenges."
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Dec 9, 2008 11:12:38 PM
Posted By: devora
What surprised me the most was that in the West (Calif) I've only heard of five of the stores covered. There are 12 'national' markets I've never seen here? Harris Teeter?!