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What is Giant's Sustainable Seafood Policy?

  1. Never knowingly buy illegal seafood
    • We work with reputable suppliers who only purchase product for us with the appropriate legal paperwork.
    • We are looking into traceability systems, which will make it even more difficult to buy or sell illegally caught product
  2. Purchase and sales (or prohibition of sales) decisions are based on social, ecological, and economic considerations
    • We are working on social audits with our private label vendors located in high risk countries (areas where social labor issues are known to occur)
    • We made the decision to discontinue Chilean sea bass, orange roughy, and all sharks due to these fisheries being in severe trouble
  3. Suppliers are selected and monitored based on demonstration of continuous improvement in the sustainability of their operations
    • We only work with suppliers who are working on improving the sustainability of the items they offer us and have stopped doing business with a few vendors over the past year who we felt were not moving in the right direction
  4. Seafood will be labeled with the legally required information
    • All of our seafood is labeled with the appropriate information as required by law, including Country of Origin and whether it was farmed or harvested from the wild
  5. Sustainable seafood will be actively promoted
    • We will continue to actively promote items such as Pacific long-line-caught cod, Arctic char, and tilapia that come from well managed fisheries and farms.
    • We are looking at other well-managed species to possibly add to our assortment
  1. We are engaged in activities with other stakeholders to improve the sustainability of the seafood produced
    • We have partnered with the New England Aquarium since 2000 to assist us in improving the sustainability of our seafood offerings
    • The New England Aquarium is working with some of our key suppliers to improve the sustainability of the products they offer us
    • In 2008, we publicly declared our support of the Common Vision for Environmentally Sustainable Seafood (wwww.solutionsforseafood.org).
  2. Scientific research linked to the sustainable production of seafood is needed and supported
    • The New England Aquarium provides us with science-based research to assist us in improving the sustainability of our seafood assortment
  3. To ensure product integrity, the implementation of traceability systems is of crucial importance
    • We are looking into traceability systems to assist us with better tracking product throughout the supply chain
    • We only work with vendors that have the appropriate traceability processes in place as required by law
  4. We do not do business with suppliers who cannot fulfill their ethical and/or sustainability responsibilities
    • This has always been at the core of our business
  5. Communicate to consumers, associates, and shareholders about efforts to improve seafood sustainability
    • Our website provides information regarding our partnership with the New England Aquarium; new information and updates will be added in the future
    • Our associates learn about our work with the New England Aquarium through the company's intranet and through various training efforts
    • Our company puts out a Corporate Responsibility report every year that provides updated information on our efforts to improve seafood sustainability

We have defined some clear goals to help us better support our policies as well as to measure our progress:

  1. Certifying all of our brand seafood to a credible eco-standard by 2015 (We currently accept MSC for wild caught seafood and are in the process of identifying which aquaculture standard(s) meet our goal. All certifications must meet the FAO guidelines for eco-labeling)
  2. Ensuring that plants producing Giant Brand seafood that are located in high risk countries are audited for social compliance (the current audits we accept are BSCI, SA8000, Fairtrade, ETI (ethical trade initiative) using the SMETA methodology, and ICS (Initiative Clause Sociale)
  3. Ensuring that all Giant Brand seafood processors have a third party food safety certification (We accept certifications that meet the GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) criteria-these include BRC, SQF 2000 level 2, Dutch HACCP, BAP (Best Aquaculture Practices), International Food Standard version 5)

Our Commitment in Action

We are proud of the many steps we have taken to improve our practices based on our seafood policy, ambitions, and partnership with the New England Aquarium. We still have a long way to go, but we know we are on the right path.

  • We made the decision to discontinue Chilean sea bass, orange roughy, and all sharks since these fisheries are in severe trouble.
  • We will not sell Atlantic halibut, bluefin tuna, hoki, parrotfish, skates, rays, grouper or wild Atlantic salmon until those overfished species have recovered and are once again healthy.
  • In May 2008, we made a commitment to support the Common Vision for Environmentally Responsible Seafood
  • We actively promote sustainable seafood items such as Pacific long-line-caught cod, Arctic char, and tilapia that come from well-managed fisheries and farms.
  • We collaborate with the seafood industry to improve the supply of the species we sell. As part of our Salmon Farm Improvement Project, we work with the salmon farms that supply our stores to ensure that they are maintaining their environment and striving to improve the sustainability of their production. Learn more about our Shrimp and Salmon Farm Improvement Project.
  • We are continually increasing the number of certified seafood products we sell in our stores.

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