McDonald’s and Sustainable Fisheries

I have to be honest here, I would never have imagined that I’d be sitting at my desk writing about sustainability in the food supply chain and including McDonald’s.

But then, in one of my morning scans of Google News, I noticed that McDonald’s fish products (I had no idea that these even contained real fish!) have met the certification requirements of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and that will carry the official MSC Blue Label on the packaging to let everyone know.

Turns out that all those McDonald’s fish products that I had always assumed were made in a chemical plant really contain 100% MSC-certified Alaska Pollock. Wow – I certainly learn something everyday!

Interesting as this is, what has it to do with Labeling News? I hear you ask.

Well, one of the keys to sustainable fisheries is the ability to be able to introduce a higher level of traceability to the seafood industry. To be able to trace fish products from where they are caught (or farmed) to the plate of the consumer.

Governments and the seafood industry are working hard to make this a reality, in the US for example the Seafood Traceability Implementation Guide, based on GS1 Standards is a step in the right direction.

Here at Winco ID, we already help a number of seafood companies with managing the traceability of their products, with our labeling, barcode and RFID solutions. We’ll be showing some of these at the International Boston Seafood Show – booth 191. If you are visiting the show, stop by and say hello!

So thanks McDonald’s for being the first restaurant chain in the US to make the effort to comply with the MSC  seafood sustainability – I might even have myself a Filet-O-Fish one of these days (now I know it contains fish)!