Posts Tagged ‘sustainability’
WWF: Don’t reject Barents Sea cod
The World Wildlife Fund expressed concern on Friday over the intentions of retailers in Germany, the United States and Canada to drop all Atlantic cod products because of sustainability questions.
While the environmental group admits some Atlantic cod fisheries have room for improvement, the group is urging retailers to not reject cod purchases from the Barents Sea, a fishery that is described by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) as harvested sustainably, and one that has obtained Marine Stewardship Council certification for sound management. WWF claims that dropping Barents Sea contradicts retails’ commitments to sell sustainable seafood.
“Science confirms that Barents Sea cod is being harvested sustainably, therefore it’s excessively heavy-handed and unnecessary to de-list this fishery from supermarket shelves,” said Alfred Schumm, leader of WWF’s Smart Fishing Initiative. “The MSC certified Barents Sea cod is undoubtedly one of the best options at the fish counter.”
Whole Foods to stop selling over-fished seafood
Whole Foods Market Inc. is phasing out seafood considered over-fished or unsustainably-caught.
Austin-based Whole Foods (Nasdaq: WFMI) operates a store in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood and plans to open its second in the region in the North Hills in 2011. The new seafood strategy is part of the grocer’s efforts to better inform customers about fish and shellfish sources. In partnership with the Blue Ocean Institute and Monterey Bay Aquarium, the company has adopted an in-store, color-coded sustainability rating system for wild-caught seafood. Whole Foods has also committed to phasing out all red-rated species by Earth Day 2013, including swordfish, Atlantic cod, sole and tuna, among others.
Seafood color-coded green, or “best choice,” indicates the fish is part of an abundant population and is fished in an environmentally-friendly way. A yellow-coded offering means a “good alternative,” or having some concerns about population or fishing methods. The red, “avoid” category signals the species is suffering from overfishing, or that current fishing methods harm other marine life or habitats.
Read more: Whole Foods to stop selling over-fished seafood – Pittsburgh Business Times
Marine Harvest reports sustainability progress
he infectious salmon anemia (ISA) outbreak that has crippled Chile’s salmon-farming industry since mid-2007 is “stabilizing,” Marine Harvest said in its 2009 sustainability report, released on Friday.
The world’s largest farmed salmon producer attributed the effort to get ISA under control to a reduction in stocking density, implementation of strict sanitary measures and procedures, coordinated zone production and fallowing, improved husbandry and management, heightened surveillance and vaccination.
Is clean tech the next bubble?
The past decade saw investors do a tap dance to the tune of Boom and Bust. First there was the dot-com bubble and the slew of other technological breakthroughs that came with it. Then we witnessed the supposedly invincible housing market complete a jaw-dropping boom-bust cycle. The young 21st century even delivered a notable financial bubble, as well as its inevitable bust.
Sidling along in the background were the seedlings of an industry on the verge of taking flight — alternative-energy technology.
Despite a drop in the overall volume of venture-capital deals last year, investments in clean-technology companies totalled US$8.4-billion, up nearly 40% from 2007, says a 2008 report by Cleantech Group, a San Francisco-based trade organization. In the third quarter of 2008 alone, venture capitalists poured US$2.65-billion into clean technology, a quarterly record. In the fourth quarter, they invested US$1.7-billion.
Sustainability moves up the agenda as brighter 2010 beckons: just-food
In spite of the global downturn, 2009 turned out to be an eventful year for the food industry. Economic recovery, albeit a slow and slightly faltering one, should bring equally if not more interesting times. Ben Cooper looks at what is likely to be dominating the headlines in the coming year.
As 2009 closes and the food industry prepares for a well-earned break – and a chance to consume far too much of its own product – attention inevitably turns to what might be dominating the headlines over the next 12 months.
In this diverse and unpredictable industry, soothsaying is a risky business but the latter part of the year has at least provided one no-brainer for any crystal-ball gazer. The first months of 2010 will see the resolution of the Kraft Foods-Cadbury takeover battle. Indeed, Kraft and Cadbury have even made sure we have finished the year with a cliffhanger.
Business forum on water, sustainability
The importance of putting the issue of water supply high on the business agenda will be the focus in an upcoming forum on water and business.
The ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), together with the Institute of Corporate Responsibility Malaysia (ICR Malaysia) and the Malaysia Association of Water (MWA), have collaborated to jointly organise a business agenda forum entittled “Business and Water: Should we be concerned?”
Making sustainable seafood easier
A new site aimed at chefs and retail buyers is attempting to connect those purchasers of sustainable seafood to supply. FishChoice.com says its Web-based tool, launched in early August, will make it a lot easier for buyers to connect with sustainable suppliers.
The site was developed because 90 percent of consumers say it is important for the food industry to be more proactive in addressing environmental concerns and retail buyers and chefs often don’t have the time to research all the options available to them, according to Richard Boot, the founder and president of nonprofit FishChoice.com.
Tesco becomes UK’s first retailer to display carbon footprint on milk
Supermarket giant Tesco has become the first UK retailer to display the full carbon footprint of milk — one of the top-selling products in its stores.
From today, all Tesco own-label full-fat, semi-skimmed and skimmed milk ranges will display the carbon footprint label as part of an on-going drive to help shoppers make “green” purchasing decisions. It has pledged to “footprint” 500 products by the end of the year. The new labelling will not apply to organic milk, where greenhouse gas emissions are generally much lower than for conventional milk.
via Guardian.co.uk
Greenpeace’s ranking of Supermarkets based on seafood sustainability
Supermarkets feed the growing appetite for seafood in the U.S. and ring up approximately $16 billion each year in seafood sales. Consumers buy half their seafood at supermarkets, yet as our report reveals, few supermarkets meet this consumer demand with any regard for the marine environment.