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THE New Zealand fishing company Sealord, which also has production operations in the UK, has signed a groundbreaking deal with McDonalds to provide the restaurant chain with Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) hoki fish.
Part of the company’s annual catch will be sold through McDonald’s restaurants in a new campaign set to maximise awareness and access to sustainable fish across Europe. Sealord will supply around four per cent of the MSC certified fish served in McDonald’s restaurants across Europe. Despite its beef burger tradition, McDonalds is a big seller of fish products.
Sealord hoki has had MSC certification since 2001 and millions of European consumers will now be aware that they are eating sustainable seafood, says the company. McDonald’s has announced it will be introducing MSC products to restaurants across 39 European countries and all McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish will be certified as sustainable.
Sealord has been supplying MSC certified hoki to McDonalds in Europe for more than a decade but this is the first time the products will carry the MSC logo on the packaging.
Awareness levels of the importance of sustainable fish such as hoki will be increased dramatically by this move. McDonald’s sold more than 100 million Filet-o-Fish portions across Europe last year.
Sealord says New Zealand’s global reputation as having some of the best managed fisheries in the world will benefit as a result of improved consumer knowledge. Sealord’s global net spans seven continents and they deliver $500 million worth of seafood to people in more than 30 countries each year. They employ around 1,100 people throughout New Zealand and over 400 staff off-shore.
Established in 1961, Sealord is half owned by the Maori, through Aotearoa Fisheries Ltd and half owned by leading Japanese fishing company Nissui. In the UK it has a modern production complex at Caistor, near Grimsby.
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