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bidfood.co.uk/sustainability
Our principles
Our communities Awards
Fish and seafood
We're committed to sourcing fish and seafood
responsibly, and are proud members of the Sustainable
Seafood Coalition (SSC), aligning with the two
voluntary codes of conduct. Our responsible seafood
sourcing policy applies to all Bidfood own brand fish &
seafood, including where it's a significant ingredient.
Our sourcing decisions of wild caught fish and seafood
are based upon risk assessment, as outlined in the
SSC voluntary code of conduct on environmentally
responsible fish and seafood sourcing, categorised
as low, medium and high risk. This risk assessment
has been developed based upon the ratings provided
in the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) Good
Fish Guide, which rates seafood from 1-5, based
upon environmental sustainability. We recognise a
number of independent third party standards for
farmed fish and we require suppliers to source farmed
seafood that has been independently certified to
internationally recognised GSSI (Global Sustainable
Seafood Initiative) standards such as the above,
and hold full chain of custody certification, where
applicable. Our sourcing risk assessment is reviewed
every six months; in the most recent review, of the
69 own brand, and exclusive brand (Pier 7) seafood
products, 42 (61%) are MSC certified. Of the 68
(95.5%) products which have been assigned a MCS
rating, 59 of these (87%) are rated 1-3. The product
that has not been assigned a rating is MSC certified.
Product certification schemes
We offer a range of products to certified
standards to allow our customers the option to
purchase products with improved ethical and
environmental standards. We've listed below the
number of lines which we have had available
at the end of each of our financial years. These
numbers do vary depending on customer demand;
we've recently decreased the number of lines
available so that we can focus on offering the
best products at the best price for our customers
and drive sales though more popular lines.
Modern slavery
Our relationship with SEDEX has been fully
re-established and we're exploring options
for their support in on-boarding own brand
suppliers who are still missing data. We've
also embedded the Welsh Code of Practice
clause relating to blocklisting whistle-blowers
into our Supplier Approval Questionnaire and
Technical Services Guide as a requirement to
be met before suppliers can be approved.
There are a number of new team members who
will be supporting and driving our supply chain
approach to modern slavery. These individuals are
being trained and on-boarded as we commence a full
scale review of our Modern Slavery Risk Assessment
of own brand suppliers and decide on appropriate
actions to take for branded suppliers. As part
of this, we've carried out a top level review of
retailer and competitor wholesaler modern slavery
policies and statements available publicly. There
is a clear distinction between actions on own
label products versus branded lines in all these
areas, which has helped to inform our approach
with our main focus being on own brand lines.
Managing modern slavery
risks in our supply chain
Certification/claim 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22
Fairtrade 157 159 143 127 108
MSC 127 132 129 119 121
Red Tractor 291 383 378 327 289
Farm Assured 134 167 156 140 110
Rainforest Alliance 96 90 78 91 94
Organic 131 155 132 82 115
Offering a
choice of
products
with certified
standards