The Brakes Group has become the first foodservice supplier to distribute prawns certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) in the United Kingdom. The product, sourced from the family-run Quoc Viet shrimp farm in Vietnam, is distributed in 1-kilogram packs.
Furthermore, Brakes has added three lines of ASC-certified pangasius basa to its broad line of 50,000-plus items that run the gamut from frozen fish fingers and sausages to Birchstead British 21-day Aged Beef Rump Steaks and New York-style Vanilla Cheesecake.
“We want to be seen as market leaders in the provision of sustainably and responsibly sourced fish and seafood, driving the foodservice market in the right direction,” said Andrew Crawford, fish and seafood category manager at Brakes. “The introduction of ASC-certified products into our product range will help us to do this. We are proud to offer the biggest range of sustainable fish and seafood in the UK, and we also work closely with our customers to help them meet their own commitments.”
In May of 2015 Brakes became the first national wholesale foodservice supplier to sign the Sustainable Fish City pledge, committing to source fish and seafood only from demonstrably sustainable and responsible sources for its own brand’s general sale range by May of 2016.
“We are gradually tailoring our range to fulfill this commitment, and the new ASC certified shrimp and pangasius will help in this process,” said Crawford. “We have a long history of sustainable fish and seafood initiatives and accomplishments, and looking at our farmed range is the next logical step.”
About Brakes Group
On February 22, Houston, Texas-headquartered Sysco Corporation, North America’s largest distributor of foodservice products, announced a definitive agreement to acquire Brakes Group in a deal valued at $3.1 billion (approximately £2.2 billion), which includes the repayment of $2.3 billion of its financial debt. The London-based company has operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Sweden, Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg. Comprising a network of specialist businesses that cater to a diverse customer base which includes independent pubs, restaurants and hotels, schools, hospitals, contract caterers and well known national chains, it sells over 50 million frozen fish fingers alone per year and ranks as the largest wholesale supplier in Britain.
About ASC
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is as an independent, not-for-profit organization founded by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) in 2010 to manage the certification of responsible fish farming across the globe. Its standards require farm performance to be measured against both environmental and social requirements. Certification is exclusively through an independent third party process.
