Quentin Clark congratulates Iceland on certification
Iceland Responsible Fisheries hosted a lunch meeting during the European Seafood Exposition in Brussel on May 3rd. Quentin Clark, Head of Sustainability and Ethical Sourcing at Waitrose spoke at the meeting about the importance of sustainable sourcing and the value of the certification of Icelandic fisheries. Eggert Benedikt Gudmundsson, Chairman of the marketing committee of the IRF programme and CEO of HB Grandi, presented the programme and its future developments.
Fish is an extremely successful product with Waitrose. “It is quality that sells fish and it is through the quality of the fish we buy from Iceland that we drive the most success.” Quentin Clark showed Waitrose advertisement that has been running on TV in Britain and has resulted in great increase in sales volume of Icelandic cod.
Clark stated that “sustainability” is a much overused and corrupted term, and that it is important to educate customers on the importance of the sustainability of their food. Customers want easy answers. “The answer is to only sell fish that meets the required standards.” Further Clark said: “Certification has become an essential part of the sustainability toolkit and I congratulate Iceland on taking this step.”
Read an article about the meeting from SeafoodNews.com (“Fast Growing UK Retailers … embrace Icelandic cod...”)
Watch also Seafood Industry Videos on SeafoodSource.com (“Ask the Editor: Who's driving sustainability?”)
