Giant Eagle Evaluates Seafood

JENNA TELESCA

PITTSBURGH — As part of a new arrangement with the nonprofit Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, Giant Eagle will be evaluating its suppliers and creating a sustainable sourcing strategy for its wild and farmed seafood.

“SFP will be doing an evaluation of our suppliers' current sustainability management, and will rate each partner accordingly,” Dan Donovan, a Giant Eagle spokesman, told SN. “After reviewing the evaluations, we will ask those partners determined to have an opportunity to improve their operations to engage SFP regarding potential action steps.”

As to whether evaluations would lead Giant Eagle end partnerships with suppliers that can't meet Giant Eagle's new goals, Donovan said the company can't speculate. “The purpose of the partnership is to ensure that we and our suppliers work together to be as sustainable as possible.”

SFP and Giant Eagle will move toward having Giant Eagle's suppliers participate in SFP's Fisheries Improvement Projects and Aquaculture Improvement Projects.

Giant Eagle sees this partnership as building on its current sustainable seafood policy and its line of Eco Certified farm-raised Atlantic salmon. In the past, Giant Eagle worked with the World Wildlife Fund, through a one-year agreement, to develop a sustainable seafood strategy.

Donovan said the SFP agreement “is not based on a specific length of time as much as it is centered around meeting certain goals.”