Croix, France-based retailer Auchan has launched a shrimp product that it markets as having a lower environmental impact at its hypermarkets in France.
The “Le Poissonnier” shrimp tails are Mr. Goodfish-certified and endorsed by the Earthworm Foundation, an international NGO pushing to reduce the environmental impact of raw materials used in numerous industries, including seafood.
“We believe the project is raising the bar for shrimp products,” Earthworm Foundation Ocean Program Manager Florie Loth said in a press release. "Our hope is that it will inspire others to adopt more sustainable practices that help preserve biodiversity and protect human rights."
Feed manufacturer BioMar contributed to the project by using BioSustain LCA – its sustainability impact assessment tool – "to minimize the carbon footprint of the feed used to raise the shrimp,” BioMar Vice President Henrik Aarestrup said.
“We replaced fish oil with microalgae and sourced 100 percent of the marine protein from high-quality trimmings,” Aarestrup said. “Equally important is the fact that none of the ingredients used in the shrimp feed come from deforested or even tropical areas.”
Shrimp feed typically contains up to 50 percent soy, “so responsible sourcing of this key ingredient is crucial to achieving good environmental outcomes,” Aarestrup said.
BioMar’s team of sustainability consultants also provided recommendations to Pedernales, Ecuador-based shrimp producer Edpacif on how to reduce the carbon footprint of its farming process.
“We are grateful to Auchan, Earthworm, and BioMar for the opportunity to work together on this important project, along with our partner Eurotrade Fish,” Edpacif President Marcelo Velez said. “The project allows us to strengthen our ESG commitments and improve our practices while delivering an ethical product of the highest quality.”
The shrimp for this intiative was imported by Eurotrade Fish, a specialty shrimp importer with a concentration on Latin America, and it has the additional bona fide of having achieved a social pillar of the Mr. Goodfish certification specially developed for this project through a partnership with the Earthworm Foundation.
“A responsible shrimp also needs to take into account social sustainability,” Loth said. “In Ecuador, our shrimp-related activities focus on capacity-building initiatives to drive social change. While the project helped enhance access to stable employment for the local community, Earthworm teams also worked with Edpacif to improve working conditions and provide better housing for workers.”
Auchan Seafood Manager Olivier Vandebeulque said the supermarket chain’s customers are demanding more responsibly sourced seafood.
“To ensure we can provide it, we need commitment from the entire value chain,” Vandebeulque said. “This is the whole purpose of our collaboration with the Earthworm Foundation.”
Auchan, which operates 687 points of sale and recorded 340 million customer visits to its stores and e-commerce sites in 2022, is testing the commercialization of its shrimp products in a new way – by selling just the tails, instead of the entire shrimp body, which is the more popular format for European retail sales.
“This innovation has two benefits: The carbon footprint associated with product transport is reduced by 40 percent, and the shrimp heads are processed and reused locally in Ecuador for animal feed, further increasing circularity in the production,” Vandebeulque said.
Photo courtesy of BioMar
