Certified seafood set for take-off after catering group's pledge
No.1 airline meals supplier commits to source fish and crustaceans from higher-welfare farms
Gategroup, the world’s largest airline catering company, has won praise for its updated seafood sourcing policy, which is intended to improve the welfare of farmed fish and crustaceans across the company’s supply chain.
The policy, recently released as part of the company’s 2025 ESG (environmental, social, and governance) report, means that by 2030 Gategroup will source the majority of farmed seafood for its North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific markets from producers certified by certification schemes that comprehensively cover animal welfare, such as those of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), RSPCA Assured, Germany’s Naturland, and the US-based Global Animal Partnership (GAP), which is a separate organisation to Global GAP (Good Agriculture Practices) that certifies salmon farmers such as Bakkafrost Scotland and Cooke Scotland.
Serving nearly 700 million passengers annually from operating centres in over 60 countries, Switzerland-headquartered Gategroup is the largest commercial purchaser of food in the global aviation industry. North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific account for over 80% of the company’s business.
Shaping practices
“We congratulate Gategroup on this important new policy, which will improve the lives of millions of animals across its supply chain,” said Astrid Duque, sustainability programme director at Lever Foundation, a US-based nonprofit that worked with the company to develop the policy.
“As a leading food purchaser in the global aviation sector, Gategroup’s sourcing decisions shape practices on aquaculture farms worldwide. This policy, with its explicit commitment to sourcing the majority of farmed seafood to meet certification standards that include robust animal welfare requirements, sets a meaningful benchmark for the industry. It also demonstrates that companies operating at a global scale can - and should - take meaningful action to improve the welfare of aquatic animals in their supply chains, just as they have already done for animals like pigs, chickens, and cows.”
Welfare considerations
Gategroup notes its new seafood sourcing policy aims to address environmental, social, and strong animal welfare considerations by meeting certification standards such as ASC, RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), Naturland, Global Animal Partnership, European Organic, and FOS (Friend of the Sea).
“By 2030, we aim to ensure that the majority of farmed fish and seafood supplied to our units in these regions meets one of these recognised certification standards.”
The policy covers all farmed fish and crustacean species, and all seafood products and ingredients in which farmed fish and seafood constitute more than 80% of the content, across the company’s North American, European, and Asia Pacific regions.
The company’s new policy focuses on certification standards that largely address key animal welfare challenges in aquaculture by setting requirements for producers such as strict limitations on disease and mortality rates, rigorous water quality monitoring, stocking density limits, limits on the use of fish meal and fish oil in feed, and requiring humane stunning before slaughter.
