Whole Foods Announces
Stricter Seafood Standards

   On July 15th Whole Foods Market, Inc., the worlds largest organic and natural supermarket chain, announced stricter standards for its farm raised seafood. Whole Foods Market’s quality standards had already prohibited the use of antibiotics, added growth hormones, preservatives such as sulfi tes, poultry and mammalian by-products in feed, and genetically modifi ed or cloned seafood. The enhanced aquaculture standards include these additions:

• Producers are required to minimize the impacts of fi sh farming on the environment by protecting sensitive habitats such as mangrove forests and wetlands, monitoring water quality to prevent pollution, and sourcing feed ingredients responsibly.
• Producers must provide detailed information on farming practices and pass independent third-party audits.

• Farm-to-fork traceability is required from the hatcheries where the young fish and shrimp are first hatched, to the ponds, pens, raceways, or tanks where they are raised and to the plants where they are processed.
• Toxic chemicals such as malachite green and organophosphate pesticides are prohibited.

   “For years our seafood standards made us a leader in our industry. Now, we have taken an additional step by embarking on an intensive process to further develop and enhance our farmed seafood standards,” said Carrie Brownstein, seafood quality standards coordinator for Whole Foods Market. “By working closely with the farmers who produce the highest quality farmed seafood for our shoppers, Whole Foods Market is proud to set the bar even higher.”
  For more information go to Whole Foods Market