USA: McDonald’s to serve MSC-certified fish

McDonald’s USA has announced it would become the first national restaurant chain to adopt the Marine Stewardship Council’s blue ecolabel on its fish packaging in restaurants nationwide. As one of the largest single buyers of fish in the USA, McDonald’s scale will help assure that growing seafood demands are balanced with MSC’s responsible sourcing practices. Sustainable fish sourcing is part of McDonald’s broader commitment to sustainable sourcing and 100 % of all fish sold in its restaurants in the USA has been certified sustainable.

MSC certification indicates that over 14,000 McDonald’s restaurants across the USA have met the MSC Chain of Custody standard for traceability. Under the MSC certification program, these fisheries have been assessed by independent scientists against three core principles: the health of the fish stock, the impact of the fishery on the ecosystem and the management system that oversees the fishery. In 2011, McDonald’s introduced the same MSC certification for all its European restaurants. McDonald’s USA also worked with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership and Conservation International for more than ten years to support sustainable fishing practices.

In total, more than 285 fisheries are engaged in the MSC program - over 10 % of the annual global harvest of wild capture fisheries. Worldwide, more than 17,000 seafood products, which can be traced back to the certified sustainable fisheries, bear the blue MSC ecolabel.

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