Environmental claims on supermarket seafood


photo: ceekay

Empowering the consumer to help drive sustainability in our fisheries is vitally important.  If consumers are to do this, it is essential that the information on the products they're buying is accurate, so they can make meaningful choices about the fish they buy or leave on the shelf. 

Supermarket retailers and major brands have enormous power to drive sustainability through their supply chains. Consumer action is essential to making them do so.

This is why ClientEarth has looked at labels on supermarket fish products - how accurate labels are and what can be done to make them more helpful for the consumer.

Read the full report | Environmental claims on supermarket seafood (pdf)

We found a confusing array of claims being made on products in the UK, from ‘sustainably sourced’, ‘protects the marine environment’, ‘responsibly farmed’ and 'Fish for life', to externally certified labels from organisations like the Marine Stewardship Council, Friend of the Sea, or Organic.  Our research showed us that different supermarkets use the same terms to mean different things, and use different methods to work out whether they can use a certain claim on a product.

We also found that in a number of cases claims made on the products did not appear to match up to the reality of how the fish was caught or where it came from.  In a number of cases supermarkets didn't provide enough information to make an informed judgement about the accuracy of their claims.

Our study then looked at what can be done to legally challenge false or misleading claims, and what might be done moving forward to reform the law. We feel that it is essential to reform UK and EU fisheries law so that retailers provide the right information on seafood packaging and that there is consistency in their environmental claims, so that consumers can make sustainable choices.

In the coming months we will be engaging with the retailers mentioned in the study, seeking more accurate labelling practice and for voluntary label reform in the case of unjustified claims.  We will also publish updates of their responses on this page - so watch this space.

Read our press release here

Our report gained a lot of media interest and was written about in publications including The Telegraph and The Guardian. ClientEarth marine scientist Melissa Pritchard was interviewed about it on the BBC.