Walmart Updates Sustainable Seafood Policies

Walmart Stores Inc. and its Sam's Club subsidiary updated its corporate seafood sourcing policies, foremost to which is expanding the policy to require that all of its wild and farmed seafood, including items such as lobster, crab and other species, be sourced from a third-party certified by the Marine Stewardship Council or the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), or by equivalent standards.

The world’s largest retailer’s previous seafood sourcing policy included only wild seafood, and has also added GAA certified aquaculture products as meeting Walmart's standard for sustainability.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer has also adopted a policy of accepting equivalent certifications that met in full the FAO standard for responsible fisheries, and intends to implement the new policy quickly, which will require every seafood item Walmart sells not that is not presently certified to have a seafood improvement plan in place to meet GAA, MSC or equivalent standards to have plans under development by May 2011, and final plans in place by June of 2012.

To read full details of Walmart’s updated seafood policy, which was revealed earlier this week at the Boston Seafood Show, click here.