Southeastern Grocers Makes Commitment to Offer Sustainable Seafood

Southeastern Grocers, parent company of BI-LO, Harveys and Winn-Dixie stores, has made a commitment to providing customers with high-quality seafood that is fresh and sourced responsibly. The company pledges to have all farm-raised seafood, fresh and frozen, to be 4-star BAP Certified by 2018.

Southeastern Grocers partners with the world’s leading seafood sustainability organizations to ensure the seafood provided is high-quality and responsibly obtained/raised. Southeastern Grocers selects suppliers that utilize best practices in animal welfare, abiding by labor regulations and safety laws for both farm-raised and wild-caught seafood.

Collectively, with credible suppliers, Southeastern Grocers works with the following reputable organizations:

The Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) program has developed a 1 to 4-star rating to provide a well-rounded assessment to determine the quality and sustainability of the fish and its environment. To achieve a 4-star rating, the aquafarm must promote quality habitat, social well-being, protected hatcheries and balanced nutrition. Southeastern Grocers currently partners with 8 BAP 4-star suppliers, but reports that by 2018, all farm-raised seafood sold in Winn-Dixie, BI-LO and Harvey stores will be BAP 4-star certified, providing customers superior product, say company officials.

The company works with reputable suppliers that source seafood from sustainable environments to ensure of its wild seafood is caught responsibly. Southeastern Grocers fully discloses the country of origin, method of catch and source location of its wild caught seafood.

“At Southeastern Grocers, we know how important it is to have fish for now and fish for the future," says Scott Morris, executive vice president of merchandising for Southeastern Grocers. "To ensure this, we must focus on sustainable ways of providing customers with quality product with minimal environmental impact.”

Southeastern Grocers is the only American retail member, to date, of the International Pole and Line Foundation, an organization that is committed to using only one-by-one catching methods, the most sustainable means to harvest tuna. Southeastern Grocers works closely with its supply partners to ensure that its own brand tuna will be responsibly sourced and dolphin-safe by 2017.