Brakes’ Sustainability Pledge Includes Four-Star BAP Seafood

Brakes Group, the United Kingdom’s largest wholesale food supplier, has committed to source only sustainable seafood, including product from Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)-certified facilities, as part of the Sustainable Fish Cities pledge.

By taking the pledge, Brakes agreed to a suite of actions that will ensure that all of its general-sale, own-brand seafood is sourced from verifiably sustainable sources, protecting the environment and supporting responsible farmers and fishermen.

The actions include sourcing seafood rated by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) as a 1, 2 or 3; four-star BAP product is rated as a 3. Four-star BAP status denotes that the processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills from which a group sources are BAP certified. It’s the highest such achievement in the BAP third-party certification program.

Brakes also agreed to stop sourcing seafood rated by MCS as a 5 and to remove or re-source all seafood rated as a 4 within 12 months.

“GAA has been proud of its association with Brakes over the last five years,” said Peter Redmond, BAP’s VP of market development. “We applaud the efforts of both Brakes and M&J Seafood, who are pioneering sustainability throughout the UK’s foodservice supply chain. This pledge is as bold as it is unique within the industry, and we are proud to be associated with such a game-changing initiative.”

Brakes representatives signed the pledge at a May 14 ceremony at the SEA LIFE London Aquarium. BAP Standards Coordinator Dan Lee attended the ceremony. Lee is pictured above with Adam Swan, category purchasing director at Brakes.

The goal of the Sustainable Fish Cities campaign is for only sustainable seafood to be on menus in the UK, and so far in 14 communities have joined the initiative. The campaign launched in 2011, inspired by the commitment to serve 100 percent sustainable seafood at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.