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Company extends sustainability efforts to farm-raised seafood
through new agreement to adopt Best Aquaculture Practices certification
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Discontinues six wild-caught seafood species due to sustainability
concerns
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 12, 2012--
Building on its current commitment to sustainably source wild-caught
seafood, SUPERVALU INC. (NYSE: SVU), one of the nation's largest grocery
retailers, today announced a significant expansion of the company’s
seafood sustainability program. Specifically, SUPERVALU has entered into
a partnership with the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) to implement a
new, comprehensive procurement policy to ensure sustainable sourcing of
farm-raised seafood. The company officially unveiled this agreement in
conjunction with their participation at The International Boston Seafood
Show, which is currently underway and is North America's largest seafood
trade event.
Through this agreement, SUPERVALU will adopt Best Aquaculture Practices
(BAP) certification for the company’s aquaculture procurement policy.
SUPERVALU’s goal is to work closely with GAA and suppliers to ensure
that all farm-raised products are BAP certified to the farm level by
early 2013, where certification standards are available.
“We are delighted with the addition of SUPERVALU to our rapidly growing
list of companies to endorse the BAP program. We commend SUPERVALU for
making this decision, taking a leading role in the industry, and for
being a strong advocate and voice of change for their customers,” says
Peter Redmond, V.P. of Global Development for GAA.
In addition to this agreement, SUPERVALU announced the discontinuation
of six wild-caught seafood species due to unsustainable sourcing
concerns. This action follows SUPERVALU’s commitment with the World
Wildlife Fund (WWF), announced last spring, to source 100 percent of its
top-twenty wild-caught seafood products from sustainable fisheries or
those on a clear pathway to sustainability by 2015.
“We’ve always viewed our sustainable seafood policy as an ongoing
commitment. With this new agreement, SUPERVALU is fully committed to
sustainable sourcing practices for both wild-caught and
farm-raised seafood,” said Chris Hooks, SUPERVALU’s Vice President of
Meat, Seafood, Dairy and Frozen Foods. “When combined with our decision
to discontinue six unsustainable seafood species from our stores, our
customers can be confident that we are doing our part to ensure a viable
seafood supply both now and in the future.”
The six specific seafood items being discontinued at SUPERVALU and its
banners are: orange roughy, shark, monk, bluefin tuna, skates, and hoki.
After careful evaluation over the past several months, SUPERVALU
officially ended its sourcing of these species last week, meaning that
when current supplies of these products are exhausted, they will no
longer be for sale in company stores.
SUPERVALU operates under nine retail brands including: Acme®, Albertsons®, Cub
Foods®, Farm Fresh®, Hornbacher’s®,
Jewel-Osco®, Shaw’s/Star Market™, Shop ‘n Save® and
Shoppers Food & Pharmacy®.
ABOUT BAP and GAA:
BAP standards cover the environment,
social responsibility, animal welfare, food safety, and traceability.
For more information, visit www.gaalliance.org.
About SUPERVALU INC.
SUPERVALU INC. is one of the largest
companies in the U.S. grocery channel with annual sales of
approximately $37 billion. SUPERVALU serves customers across the United
States through a network of approximately 4,300 stores composed of 1,104
traditional retail stores, including 798 in-store pharmacies; 1,309
hard-discount stores, of which 922 are operated by licensee owners; and
1,900 independent stores serviced primarily by the company's traditional
food distribution business. SUPERVALU has approximately 135,000
employees. For more information about SUPERVALU, visit www.supervalu.com.

Source: SUPERVALU INC.
SUPERVALU
Luke Friedrich, 952-903-1657
Luke.Friedrich@supervalu.com