Price Chopper Introduces New Sustainable Seafood Platform
Price Chopper Supermarkets has revealed a new sustainable seafood platform crafted through the grocer’s collaboration with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) and Trace Register. The two organizations will guide Schenectady, N.Y.-based Price Chopper in further developing plans and programs to ensure that its seafood comes from the most sustainably managed and maintained fisheries.
The nonprofit SFP is working with the food retailer to evaluate products and determine the best sources of wild-caught and farmed seafood. By joining forces with supply chain and individual fisheries, Price Chopper aims to improve harvesting policies and practices where they’re insufficient or poorly managed.
Trace Register has provided Price Chopper with a sophisticated software system that meets the full traceability requirements of producers, processors, distributors and retailers of wild-caught and farmed seafood. The software will enable the grocer to trace every step of seafood product’s journey from ocean to shelf, thereby providing assurances of quality, food safety and sustainability.
In 2010, Price Chopper became the first U.S. supermarket operator to give customers the opportunity to buy sea bream harvested through a wholly sustainable closed-loop water system that simulates the optimal ocean environment in a tank.
“Developing new partnerships and policies continues to help us improve our sustainable seafood platform for the betterment of our customers and our oceans,” noted Price Chopper VP of seafood merchandising Lee E. French. “Actions speak louder than words, and our programs and alliances reflect our deep commitment to offer our customers the best in fresh, high-quality, sustainable seafood products.”
The Golub Corp. owns and operates 128 Price Chopper supermarkets in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Vermont. Golub’s more than 24,000 teammates collectively own 52 percent of the company’s privately held stock, making it one of the nation’s largest privately held corporations that’s predominantly employee-owned.
The Honolulu-based SFP was founded in 2006 as an independent non-governmental organization (NGO) in the area of sustainable seafood and marine and freshwater conservation. Founded in 2005, Seattle-based Trace Register sets standards that allow consumers to feel confident that the seafood they buy is from sustainable sources.