US food retailer Albertsons is expanding its Fair Trade Certified seafood program by becoming the first major grocer to carry Fair Trade-certified scallops.
The new product, Santa Monica Seafood Signature Sea Scallops, is sourced from New Bedford and is available at Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions supermarkets in southern California and will be available at Safeway stores in northern California this summer.
The Fair Trade Certified program addresses the social and environmental needs of fishing communities across the globe by protecting fundamental human rights of workers, preventing forced and child labor, establishing safe working conditions, regulating work hours and benefits, and enabling responsible, sustainable resource management.
"By providing Fair Trade-certified seafood, we are able to support the domestic industry, provide our customers with the highest quality product, and support the health of ocean ecosystems and communities that depend upon them," said Buster Houston, group director of seafood at Albertsons Companies.
Like all Fair Trade Certified products, producers of Santa Monica Seafood's scallops receive a Community Development Premium -- 10 percent of the dockside price -- which they can collectively invest in much-needed community projects.
"The premium received by NWASSF will augment the scallop fisheries advocacy group Fisherman Survival Fund and promote industry research partners UMass Dartmouth's School for Marine Science & Technology and Coonamessett Farm," said David Ferreira, secretary of the Northwest Atlantic Sea Scallop Fisheries (NWASSF),
In 2015, Albertsons became the world's first retailer to sell Fair Trade-certified seafood, with the introduction of Fair Trade yellowfin tuna from Indonesia.
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