Bidvest Partners With Best Aquaculture Practices
The Global Aquaculture Alliance announced in early December that Bidvest Australia and Bidvest Fresh/Direct Seafoods UK have been added to the growing list of wholesale, retail and foodservice companies worldwide partnering with the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) third-party certification program.
As part of their company-wide sustainability approach, Bidvest Australia and Bidvest Fresh/Direct Seafoods UK will work with their suppliers and the BAP market development team to grow the amount of farmed seafood originating from a BAP-certified facility, as they strive toward sourcing four-star BAP product. Four-star status denotes that the product comes from a BAP-certified processing plant, farm, hatchery and feed mill; it’s the highest achievement in the BAP program.
“GAA welcomes and applauds the leadership position that is being formed by Bidvest,” said Peter Redmond, BAP vice president of market development. “It is always difficult to launch a sustainability platform. To do it across continents is very difficult, and we recognize the effort and drive that Bidvest has put in to becoming a true leader in this sector. Four-star BAP certification is truly the most comprehensive and rigorous approach to aquaculture certification, and we commend Bidvest’s efforts.”
“Direct Seafoods is committed to sourcing their farmed seafood from robust third party certified schemes,” said Laky Zervudachi, director of sustainability and epicurean for Direct Seafoods. “We believe that four-star BAP products help us give our clients the security they need to know that their seafood has been responsibly sourced from end to end. With BAP, GAA has created a truly credible third-party certification scheme that enhances our sustainability values and helps give credence to our whole ethos.”
“As an industry leader in the Australian foodservice market, Bidvest customers rely on us to ensure our products are sourced from quality suppliers with the highest standards,” added Brett Patience, national seafood development manager for Bidvest Australia. “BAP certification provides credible, independent, third-party verification, which the entire aquaculture supply chain adheres to, thereby giving our customers security knowing that the products they source have been sustainably and ethically produced. As part of our quality and sustainability program, we are committed to sourcing our farmed seafood from BAP-certified facilities.”
Bidvest Australia and Bidvest Fresh/Direct Seafoods UK are part of Bidvest Group Limited, an international investment holding company with investments across the foodservice, broad services, trading and distribution industries. The company was founded in 1988 and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa in 1990. It employs more than 141,000 people worldwide.
About BAP
A division of the Global Aquaculture Alliance, Best Aquaculture Practices is an international certification program based on achievable, science-based and continuously improved performance standards for the entire aquaculture supply chain — farms, hatcheries, processing plants and feed mills — that assure healthful foods produced through environmentally and socially responsible means. BAP certification is based on independent audits that evaluate compliance with the BAP standards developed by the Global Aquaculture Alliance.
