The Marine Stewardship Council is “satisfied” with Netto’s approach after it wrongly claimed its £4.50 lobster was MSC certified, the discounter has claimed.
The Scandinavian discounter announced last week it was undercutting rival Lidl by 49p from 19 November to offer the cheapest MSC-certified whole cooked 350g lobster as part of its Christmas range.
Netto claimed the lobster had been pot caught in a sustainable MSC-certified fishery in Nova Scotia, before being cooked and frozen locally and shipped to the UK, and was “another Netto product that shows it’s possible to get gourmet food items at discounter prices”.
However, The Grocer understands the MSC subsequently approached Netto to inform it there was no record of any accreditation for the fishery.
For a product to be described as ‘MSC certified’ it needs to be fully traceable back to a certified sustainable fishery, said a spokesman for the NGO. “The MSC ‘Chain of Custody’ traceability scheme means every link in the supply chain - from the sea to the shop - is MSC-certified for traceability.” In this case, “it looks like a misunderstanding by one of Netto’s suppliers - they don’t have the vital traceability certification that would make the Netto lobster MSC certified”.
A spokeswoman for Netto conceded that its supplier had made an error in claiming the lobster was MSC-certified, but insisted the product remained ‘sustainable’, and had been caught using baited traps in waters around New Brunswick and Nova Scotia during two short periods each year - allowing for rejuvenation of stocks. “We have discussed this with the MSC and they are satisfied with the approach.”
Netto was hoping to introduce MSC-labelled lobsters into stores next year, she added.
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