The Sustainable Seafood Coalition (SSC) has added another foodservice company to its ranks, with the inclusion of one of the UK’s leading foodservice providers Bidfood.
Bidfood supplies more than 13,000 products to over 45,000 caterers and foodservice businesses around the UK, and is the 38th member to sign up to the coalition’s voluntary Codes of Conduct. SSC members commit to the responsible sourcing of seafood and clear, consistent environmental claims.
The SSC is a coalition of UK businesses working since 2011 towards the vision that all fish and seafood sold in the UK come from sustainable sources. Members account for more than 70% of retail seafood sales in the UK.
Bidfood Director of Technical Services Angela O’Donovan said: “Bidfood is proud to become a member of the Sustainable Seafood Coalition and work collaboratively with the seafood industry to bring about real changes for our customers in this challenging and important area.
“We source seafood products globally, and are passionate about sustainability, protecting the world’s fish stocks for future generations.
“As well as sustainable fishing, Bidfood is working to improve our sustainability credentials across our product range with a particular focus on plastics, palm oil and modern slavery.”
Oliver Tanqueray, SSC coordinator at ClientEarth, said: “By joining the SSC, Bidfood has shown a commitment to collaborating with like-minded businesses on the responsible sourcing of seafood. The challenges facing the ocean are too large to be tackled by any individual business, which is why it is so important for competitors to work together.
“We look forward to working with Bidfood as they implement the SSC Codes of Conduct and help the UK seafood industry towards sustainability.”
Signing up to the SSC Codes means that members commit to the responsible sourcing of all own-brand fish by following good practice, such as good traceability, transparency and openness. The Codes include a commitment to taking a risk assessment approach to sourcing fish, and basing decisions on the assessment outcomes to help the fishery or farm to move towards sustainability.
Bidfood works behind the scenes to deliver food to over 45,000 customers who feed people out-of-home, 365 days a year, in all walks of life, including hotels, restaurants, pubs, workplace, travel and leisure venues, care homes, hospitals, schools and universities.
