Greening Austin Daily

Greenpeace Ranks Target Above Whole Foods in Seafood Sustainability

14th April, 2011 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

ABJ had this article today that surprisingly states:

Whole Foods Market Inc. seafood was ranked below Target and Safeway on a recent Greenpeace sustainability ranking.

Mega food chain Safeway took the top spot for sustainable seafood practices, while Whole Foods was No. 4. Safeway, the nation’s fourth-largest supermarket chain, was praised by the environmental group for discontinuing the sale of unsustainably caught fish species, known in the industry as “red list” seafood. This year, that includes orange roughy.

Greenpeace officials contend Safeway’s approach needs to be duplicated by other retailers to salvage the world’s rapidly declining fish populations. It said most seafood merchants still focus on large, predatory fish — such as cod, sharks and tuna — even though global populations of these species have dropped by up to 90 percent.

The ranking comes less than a year after Whole Foods (Nasdaq: WFMI) began phasing out seafood considered over-fished or unsustainably-caught. The company also adopted an in-store, color-coded sustainability rating system for wild-caught seafood. All red-rated species will be removed from stores by Earth Day 2013, including swordfish, Atlantic cod, sole and tuna, among others.

Central Texas-based H.E. Butt Grocery Co. came in No. 14 on the list, below Walmart and Costco.

Read more: Target seafood more sustainable than Whole Foods, Greenpeace says | Austin Business Journal