UK supermarkets Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer have come out on top of the Marine Conservation Society’s (MCS) Supermarket Seafood Survey.
M&S has once again performed well in almost all survey categories of the survey, which assesses retailers’ seafood policies and own brand sources and labelling.
The Co-operative came in close second, while Waitrose came third. Morrisons missed our on a top three place again but MCS says it showed promise in some survey categories.
“This survey is great news for Sainsbury’s,”saidSamuel Stone, fisheries officer, MCS. “They have the second highest market share of seafood behind Tesco and have managed to join M&S at the top for the first time. They now have the best seafood policy in place, great consumer information and a very good proportion of seafood that is certified or rated well by MCS.”
While Sainsbury’s and M&S performed well, Iceland and North of England-based Booths are still selling too much seafood from MCS’ ‘Fish to Avoid’ list and haven’t made efforts to improve these fisheries and farms.
And some chains chose not to take part at all. Tesco, which has the highest market share of seafood of all the UK’s supermarkets declined to take part in the survey. Aldi also chose not to participate this year, with Asda, Lidl, Spar and Budgens not even responding.
MCS says traceability and labelling of seafood still needs improvements from all retailers.
“In many cases seafood has a longer supply chain than meat. What’s needed in the supply chain are the 3T’s - trust, transparency and traceability – to make sure that seafood doesn’t have its own ‘horsemeat’ scandal to deal with,” added Mr Stone.
