Food Lion, Delhaize Group’s largest banner in the US, announced last March that it has implemented an industry-leading sustainable seafood policy that covers more than 1 000 fresh, frozen, canned or packaged products sold across the store.
The policy provides customers with easy access to responsibly harvested seafood at Food Lion’s same low prices.
“At Food Lion, we believe that we have a responsibility to protect seafood species for generations to come,” said Karen Fernald, Senior Vice President of Merchandising at Food Lion. “Through our policy, customers can trust that the seafood products they buy in our stores today are responsibly harvested. Our seafood products have been documented as meeting important criteria around sustainability, adding Food Lion to an elite list of grocers in the US to accomplish this goal.”
Food Lion will sell sustainable seafood products throughout all of its more than 1 100 stores. Various signs throughout the store will help remind customers of Food Lion’s promise that “Down every aisle and in every case, Food Lion is committed to providing only responsibly harvested seafood.”
To celebrate the announcement, Food Lion donated 5 000 sustainable seafood products to local food banks, including Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina in Charlotte (North Carolina; Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina in Raleigh; Feedmore Food Bank in Richmond, (Virginia).; Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia in Norfolk; and Second Harvest Food Bank in Northwest North Carolina in Winston-Salem.
Under Food Lion’s seafood sustainability policy:
- Food Lion’s suppliers will provide full traceability back to the source fishery or seafood farm for all seafood products sold.
- Wild-caught seafood will come from source fisheries that are governed by credible, enforceable and science-based management plans that respect the amount of harvest to ensure seafood populations will continue to be healthy in the future.
- Farm-raised seafood is certified and reviewed to ensure that production does not harm communities, workers, the environment or human health.
- The Gulf of Maine Research Institute will confirm fisheries that supply our seafood are responsibly managed.
- Monitoring and compliance measures are in place to ensure harvest levels are maintained within appropriate limits.
“We are extremely proud of the work Food Lion has done to ensure they are contributing to the long-term sustainability of seafood around the world,” said Jen Levin, Sustainable Seafood Program Manager at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. “Food Lion has been resolute in following through with its policy’s commitments, which has required a great deal of investment on their part.” Read more about the actions and goals of Delhaize Group and its banners in terms sustainable seafood in the “2013 Sustainability Progress Report”.