Sainsbury’s ‘Switch the Fish Day’ to encourage customers to eat alternative fish will be taking place on Friday 25 January.
The UK supermarket will be giving away seven tonnes of lesser known British fish, such as lemon sole, mussels, Cornish sardines, coley fillets and loch trout fillets.
When customers ask for one of the Big Five species (cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns) at the fish counter on ‘Switch the Fish Day’ they can try a lesser known alternative for free.
The launch builds on the success of Sainsbury’s first ‘Switch the Fish Day’ in 2011 which saw sales of fish soar by 12% across fish counters on the day. Following the campaign sales of alternatives increased with rainbow trout +42% and coley +11.4%, while 8 tonnes of megrim sold – a fish that 85% of the population had never heard of before, according to Sainsbury’s research.
Sainsbury’s hopes that the Switch the Fish campaign will better help educate consumers about making sustainable choices. As part of Sainsbury’s commitment, 18,000 counters colleagues have gone through training at the Sainsbury’s food colleges.
Justin King, Sainsbury’s CEO said: “Sainsbury’s is committed to fishing responsibly and helping change UK fish eating habits. We know our customers care about responsibly sourced food and this is a great opportunity for them to try some alternative British fish for free.”
Also launched on ‘Switch the Fish Day’ is a new partnership with Fishermen’s Mission, a charity that offers support to fishermen and their families in times of crisis. For three weeks from 25 January, Sainsbury’s will donate 5p from every pack sold of the five alternative species to the charity, hoping to raise over £13,000 which will cover the cost of the mission’s work in the South West of England for over a month.
