August 24, 2013 — Alaska salmon continues to get snubbed by ill informed, far away big wigs who believe they are best suited to make the seafood choices for their customers.
Last week Sodexo, one of the world’s largest food purveyors – said its policy is to only serve seafood certified by (you guessed it) the London-based Marine Stewardship Council. In this case, the fish is targeted to the US troops.
Sodexo, a Fortune 500 company home based in France, has an eight year contract to provide food services to US military mess halls, including $22 million of seafood each year. It’s likely that many other Americans also are not benefitting from Alaska seafood, as Sodexo provides foods to hundreds of federal, state and private hospitals, schools, prisons, assisted living centers and other facilities across the country.
In a letter to Sodexo USA CEO George Chavel, Senator Mark Begich called the salmon snub “outrageous and an “appalling insult.”
“This company has decided that because of some labeling issue, they don’t think Alaska fish products meet their standards,” Begich fumed during a phone conversation as he was leaving a fisheries hearing in Kenai. “We believe the certification we have through Global Trust, the same that Canada and Iceland receive on their fish products, is as high a standard, if not higher, than what Sodexo wants.
The MSC spearheaded the sustainable seafood movement in 1997 – showcasing Alaska’s salmon fishery as its first big certification success. The Alaska salmon industry opted out of the MSC program last year, due to growing logo and licensing costs and concerns over inconsistent standards.
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