Sustainability label 'pushed bass and bream sales up by 40%'
Cash and carry chain expert says certification offers customers transparency they can trust
The seafood sourcing division of global cash and carry chain METRO experienced a 40% sales increase for sea bass and sea bream after adopting the GLOBALG.A.P certification body’s GGN label across its product range, one of its executives has revealed.
József Bárdos, quality and sustainable development manager at the Metro Food Sourcing Concarneau Trading Office, which sources the Germany-based chain's seafood, talked about the sales uplift during a panel discussion at the Seafood Expo Global trade show in Barcelona last week.
“We highly value the independent certification that is represented by the GGN label. It allows us to confidently support responsible sourcing and offer our customers transparency they can trust,” said Bárdos, who added that the Metro trading office is currently applying for GLOBALG.A.P. Chain of Custody (CoC) certification in Italy.
The CoC certification supports the segregation and identification of products originating from GLOBALG.A.P. certified production processes and ensures the certified status is maintained at every stage of the supply chain.
METRO, which operates more than 600 wholesale stores in 21 countries, has already implemented the GGN label in 19 countries, including Germany, Spain, and Poland and plans to introduce rainbow trout as a new product into its assortment.
Remko Oosterveld, business development manager aquaculture at GLOBALG.A.P., said the GGN label promoted responsibility and transparency in aquaculture supply chains.
For example, the Compound Feed Manufacturing (CFM) standard, which is integral to the GGN label, requires that producers undertake not to use any products from Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fisheries or any species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species in feed production.
Also, no raw materials may be used that originate from areas where forests have previously been illegally cleared or which are nature reserves, which is in line with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) initiative.
Three million tonnes
Currently, almost three million tonnes of farmed aquatic species are produced under GLOBALG.A.P. certified production processes annually.
“We believe the GGN label continues to set industry benchmarks by enabling supply chain transparency from farm to table, fostering responsible aquaculture, consumer confidence, and driving market growth for products from certified production processes,” concluded Oosterveld.
