M&S refute eco-label study
M&S said today it is wholly committed to producing environmentally-friendly farmed seafood
UK retailer, M&S, has refuted a new study released today which puts them second to last in an eco-label performance table intended to rank environmentally-friendly farmed seafood.
Emma Johnson, spokesperson for M&S, said to World Fishing today: “The research uses out of date information from 2006 and includes a product we haven’t sold for over five years. We consider ourselves to be in an industry leading position in terms of environmentally friendly farmed fish, not just in our fresh fish offerings but for the ingredients that go into our products too.”
The research - called How Green is Your Eco-label? has been led by the University of Victoria in Canada. It’s meant to be a tool to compare eco-labels and evaluate where they lie on the continuum of environmental performance – ‘a kind of Michelin guide for standards’, according to the researchers.
Results showed that most eco-labels for farmed marine fish offer no more than a 10 percent improvement over the status quo – including offerings from M&S.
Supported by the Pew Environment Group, the study uses the 2010 Global Aquaculture Performance Index to determine numerical scores of environmental performance for 20 different eco-labels for farmed marine finfish, including salmon and cod.
The authors used ten environmental factors to assess the eco-labels, including antibiotic use, the ecological effect of farmed fish that escape from pens, sustainability of the fish that serve as feed, parasiticide use, and industrial energy needed in aquaculture production.
M&S are understandably frustrated by the results of the study. The company won the Crown Estate Aquaculture Processor/Retailer of the Year 2011 and is known for its work with the RSPCA on the Freedom of Foods project.
“Of course we are always striving to do better though – we are working with WWF on a Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue that we are aiming to introduce to a number of our supplier farms in 2012", Ms Johnson added.
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