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Meat & Seafood: Sustainable Seafood Policy

SUPPORTING OUR INDUSTRY

Our sustainable seafood policy embraces various categories of products, including all products sold from our full-service cases and Publix brand frozen items in our Seafood department. Our policy reinforces our stance in supporting the industry as it makes progress in its sustainability efforts.

PROGRESS THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS

Publix is the first US retailer to team up with Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) on the Ocean Disclosure Project (ODP). We know that transparency is important to our customers, and the ODP is a great way for us to share information about the sources of the fisheries that supply our seafood products.

We also review the guidance provided by our partners at SFP regarding the products that we sell. We start by combining partner assessments of the fisheries with our own data to identify the species in most need of Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) activity or sourcing changes. We then Involve our suppliers in the FIP or direct them to source from a more acceptable fishery. They are expected to be proactive and work independently of our direction, while adhering to all laws and regulations.

BE INVOLVED IN THE SOLUTION

Our suppliers understand our sustainability program because it is very simple: “Be involved in the solution.” As such, we have donated $200,000 to SFP toward Fishery Improvement Project funding over the past seven years.

If we identify that an FIP or Aquaculture Improvement Project (AIP) is needed, we require the supplier to participate or find a more sustainable source for that particular product. An example of involvement in the solution is the development of the zonal aquaculture standard (which includes addressing ecosystem impacts beyond individual farms) to the existing certification programs. During the development of this standard, we required all of our Asian shrimp suppliers to attend a seminar presented by SFP and encouraged them to participate in the growth of this program.

We believe that our goals and processes will drive true and lasting change. The only way that sustainability will truly come to life in the seafood industry is for the industry to embrace it. The industry, environmental groups, and retailers must work together to meet sustainability goals.