The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) welcomed today (7th January, 2009), the call from Environment Secretary Hilary Benn for retailers to provide consumers with more information on where their food comes from.
Mr Benn is urging retailers to give accurate information about the origins of the food they sell stating the country in which the animal was “born, reared, and slaughtered”. This request has been welcomed by MCS, who launched a seafood labelling campaign in September 2008, urging retailers to improve the labelling of seafood.
Sustainability of food supply is presently of huge public concern, however labelling of seafood products at many retail points is simply not sufficient to allow consumers to make an informed choice. Present EU legislation demands that retailers display various details of seafood being sold, however MCS believes that labelling of, seafood processed products fresh fish counters, takeaways and restaurants remains poor. MCS launched their labelling campaign in September 2008 to highlight the need for more information at point of sale and urges shoppers to fill in their questionnaire at www.fishonline.org to help them encourage retailers to improve labelling.
Marine Conservation Society Fisheries Officer Sam Wilding says, “The sustainability of our seafood is of paramount importance in the UK. There is a growing demand for sustainably produced seafood amongst the UK public, but the quality of labelling is proving an obstacle. In order to ensure the survival of threatened fish stocks, consumers need to be confident that the seafood they are buying is from a sustainable source.”
The MCS also welcomed the Environment Secretary’s announcement that in order to ensure food security we need to protect our oceans and our land now, so that it will be productive in the future. To ensure the long term survival of the UK fishing industry, our fish stocks and the marine habitat in which they live need to be protected to the highest level. Only then will we ensure that there are fish to produce the next generation. Improved seafood labelling will bring us one step closer to achieving more sustainable fisheries.
