msc certified fish at supermarkets

The discounters have made big strides on sustainable seafood over the past 12 months, with Lidl and Aldi now offering more MSC-certified SKUs than M&S.

In a move that mirrors their previous push on Red Tractor-assured fresh meat, both discounters significantly increased the number of MSC-certified seafood products on shelves last year, according to latest figures from the Marine Stewardship Council.

Lidl doubled its range of sustainably sourced seafood, with more than half of its wild-caught range (79 out of 148 products) now MSC-certified. Aldi increased its MSC-certified seafood products from 36 to 54 - representing 37% of its total wild-caught range.

This put the discounters ahead of M&S for the first time, with the high-end retailer actually reducing its MSC-certified SKUs from 39 to 29 last year after it “stopped certifying some of its ‘value-added’ products”, MSC said.

Only Sainsbury’s and Waitrose outperformed the discounters, offering 200 and 86 MSC-certified products respectively last year. The rest of the mults and The Co-Operative continued to lag behind.

Toby Middleton, MSC’s programme ­director for the UK & North East Atlantic, said it was “great” to see Lidl and Aldi follow in the ­footsteps of Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, who had “long been committed” to sourcing sustainable seafood. “As well as helping to safeguard our oceans for the future, it means shoppers can find a wide range of sustainably sourced seafood at a price to suit all budgets,” he said. Alexandra Scholes, fish and seafood buyer for Lidl said the discounter was “proud” to offer such an extensive range of MSC-certified seafood. “Alongside being the first grocery retailer to sell (own-label) MSC assured whole lobster, 100% of our fresh ongoing wild caught fish is accredited,” she added.

Jonathan Neale, managing director for buying, at Aldi said: “Sourcing fish in a responsible way is really important to us and to our customers. We are delighted to be ranked in fourth position and are extremely proud to see the significant progress we have made in sourcing MSC certified products.”

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