“At McDonald’s we have a goal to source all of our food and packaging from sustainable sources. As part of this, since 2013 all the white fish we serve in our restaurants globally in our Filet-o-fish sandwiches is sourced from MSC certified fisheries. In Spain, we are very proud to announce that the skipjack tuna, which we serve as part of our salad range, is now also MSC certified”, says Ignacio Blanco-Traba, Sr. Director Sustainable Sourcing at McDonald’s Corporation.
Pacifical, the marketing and sales organisation for the PNA MSC certified tuna is supplying Frinsa del Noroeste, a leading European tuna processor located in Spain. McDonalds MSC certified skipjack tuna is being caught in the waters of PNA nations in the Western Central Pacific Ocean. The fish is cooked and cleaned in a local Pacific-based processing facility, generating work and income to over one thousand local families. The MSC certified tuna is later transported to Spain, the largest fish processing nation in Europe, to be packed and delivered to McDonalds.
Pacifical tuna is from nets set only on free swimming schools of adult skipjack tuna. Fishing on free schools reduces bycatch to the lowest level and ensures that the tuna caught is predominately of mature size. This means that bycatch of unwanted species and juvenile tuna is largely eliminated. Independent MSC trained onboard observers monitor and record all fishing operations according to the strictest MSC chain of custody (COC) standards.
