McDonald’s, which uses Marine Stewardship Council certified wild-caught Alaska Pollock for its Filet-O-Fish sandwich, will begin displaying the blue MSC ecolabel on product packaging, in-restaurant communications and external marketing beginning in February — coinciding with the launch of Fish McBites, McDonald’s newest fish menu item, which also uses wild-caught, MSC-certified Alaska Pollock.
MSC certification indicates that over 14,000 McDonald’s restaurants across the U.S. have met the MSC Chain of Custody standard for traceability, which is the ability to track the fish all the way back through the supply chain to the fishery.
Under the MSC certification program, these fisheries have been assessed by independent scientists against three core principles: the health of the fish stock, the impact of the fishery on the ecosystem and the management system that oversees the fishery.
In 2011, McDonald’s introduced the same MSC certification for all its European restaurants. McDonald’s USA also worked with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership and Conservation International for more than ten years to support sustainable fishing practices.
“Through this partnership with McDonald’s, millions of McDonald’s US customers each day have an opportunity to recognize and reward sustainable fishing practices that not only preserve fish stocks, but support seafood industry livelihoods and communities that depend on fishing,” said Howes.
The MSC commitment has been one of McDonald’s biggest sustainability successes. The company described the initiative in detail on its last Sustainability Scorecard, which revealed the company has yet to make progress on other targets for sourcing and energy efficiency.
@Bart_King is a freelance writer and communications consultant.
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Bart King is the founder and principal at New Growth Communications. He specializes in helping sustainability leaders develop thought leadership content and strategy
Published Jan 25, 2013 7am EST / 4am PST / 12pm GMT / 1pm CET