Three of eight Canadian supermarkets pass seafood sustainability test

(Monkey Business Images/shutterstock.com)

On July 7, international environmental organization Greenpeace released the results of a study on Canadian supermarkets' sustainable seafood procurement policies. Of the eight major supermarket chains surveyed only three were deemed by Greenpeace to have 'passed.'

The eight major supermarket chains in Canada studied by Greenpeace were Loblaw, Overwaitea Food Group, Safeway, Sobeys, Walmart, Metro, Federated Cooperatives and Costco.

The chains were scored by the organization on their "progress in implementing their seafood procurement policies", [...] "the removal or substitution of unsustainable Redlist [seafood listed as endangered] species," and the supermarkets' ability to trace the food and the communication of these efforts to customers.

Judged against these criteria, only three of the eight supermarkets - Loblaw, Overwaitea Food Group and Safeway - were deemed to have passed with scores of 62, 59 and 51 percent respectively.

Of those that failed to meet Greenpeace's standards, Sobeys scored 45 percent, Walmart and Metro 43 percent , Federated Cooperatives 38 percent and Costco 37 percent.

The full report, titled "Emerging from the deep: Ranking supermarkets on seafood sustainability," is available to download via Greenpeace Canada.

In 2010 Greenpeace released the fourth edition of its Seafood Sustainability Scorecard, which ranked 20 leading supermarket chains in the US on their seafood operations; more than half of those studied were deemed to have 'passed' by Greenpeace. 

The top five US retailers as ranked by Greenpeace on the Seafood Sustainability Scorecard in 2010 were:

01.   Target
02.   Wegmans
03.   Whole Foods
04.   Safeway (Dominicks, Genuardi's, Pavilions, Randall's and Von's)
05.   Ahold USA (Stop & Shop, Giant)

The full report can be downloaded via Greenpeace USA.

Greenpeace Canada supermarket sustainability report - http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/emerging/

Greenpeace USA - Seafood Sustainability Scorecard - http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/media-center/reports/carting-away-the-oceans/