Local grocery store ranked top 3 for sustainability of seafood
A local grocery store chain is being praised for its efforts to provide good quality and sustainable seafood to its customers.
The seafood in Hy-Vee’s counter is harvested or raised with minimal damage to the environment. This earned the grocery giant a third-place ranking on Greenpeace’s sustainable seafood list.
Greenpeace evaluates and ranks efforts to protect both the oceans and seafood industry workers.
Customer Ambria Luett Johann says, “I think that’s super important. It just adds to the quality of the product that they have here.
Nate Stewart, vice president of perishables, says, “We want to bring the oceans to the Midwest as much as we can.”
Greenpeace praises Hy-Vee for being open with their customers, making it easy to see where fish is from and talking about it on their seafoodies blog.
“I think that’s our biggest responsibility as a retailer, is to share what we know with the public and help them make better choices,” Stewart said.
Tom Lu says he shops at Hy-Vee because they have the biggest selection of seafood.
“They’re good, clean fish. Hy-Vee is a very reputable franchise. They are getting their fish from good sources,” he said.
Stewart says it’s not just important for them to have a good selection of sea food, but that they’re getting it the right way.
“When you catch a certain fish you want to reduce bycatch. You want to make sure you’re not harming the environment or ecosystem, that the employees of fishing companies are well-treated. All those things matter to us,” he said.
Hy-Vee’s next goal is to make sure processed food, such as fish sticks, meet sustainability guidelines, too.