![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/woolworths-sassi-poster.jpg\" "\\"woolworths-sassi-poster\\"")
<\/a>It was episode 15 of MasterChef SA<\/a>, <\/strong>flighted on Tuesday last week, that attracted attention to Woolworths’ communication about its commitment to sustainable seafood. \u00a0The TV commercial matched the reality TV series focus on seafood prepared on the beach at Paternoster, and Chef Pete Goffe-Wood gave a brief introduction to the South African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI)<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, saying that it educates consumers about buying fish responsibly. Woolworths is one of the major sponsors of MasterChef SA, and joins Robertsons<\/a><\/span><\/strong> as another MasterChef SA sponsor which is not being honest with consumers.<\/p>\nChef Pete said that ‘green<\/em>‘ rated fish is in order to buy, while ‘orange<\/em>‘ and ‘red’<\/em> rated fish denotes fish varieties that are overfished and scarce, and should not be eaten. \u00a0The Woolworths TV commercial expressed the retailer’s commitment to sustainable seafood.<\/p>\n It was a visit to Woolworths the following day that made me check out the seafood section at the St John’s Piazza store in Sea Point, where I noticed the following:<\/p>\n * \u00a0the dominant SASSI poster about Woolworths’ ‘sustainable seafood<\/em>‘ supply, using the SASSI colour rating<\/p>\n * \u00a0 About half the fish sold is kingklip, on the SASSI ‘orange<\/em>‘ list! * \u00a0 The ‘Fresh Fish’ <\/em>department has fish displayed whole, and pre-packed in portions, and has a mix of such packs with and without the sustainability rating on it! \u00a0This is inconsistent per fish type, i.e. some of the kingklip is SASSI colour rated, and other packs are not.<\/p>\n * \u00a0 The colour blue does not appear on the SASSI list, but the majority of Woolworths’ fish packs have a\u00a0blue sticker. The Calamari Goujons pack I bought had a blue rating, with the heading ‘Fishing for the future’<\/em>, which is defined on the pack as follows: ‘Our FISHING FOR THE FUTURE’ initiative is your guarantee that the product is responsibly sourced.<\/strong> Blue indicates farmed or imported<\/em>‘. \u00a0It then provides the SASSI cell number for checking on the sustainability status of a fish type, and depicts and defines a green fish (‘<\/em>Best choice<\/em>‘), orange fish (<\/em>‘Concern<\/em>‘), and a blue fish (‘<\/em><\/em>Farmed or imported<\/em>‘)!<\/p>\n At the Canal Walk \n \n \n We Tweeted about the visible predominance of the ‘orange<\/em>‘ rated kingklip in the St John’s Piazza store in Sea Point last week, and received the following reply by e-mail from Alana Jattiem of Woolworths (she did not supply her designation): “Thank you for getting in touch with us on our Twitter page. <\/em>With regards to your concerns, SASSI has requested all retailers to remove labelling off packs, hence the phasing out of on pack labelling by Woolworths. Customers are welcome to check this with SASSI.\u00a0Regarding your query on Kingklip, Kingklip is orange on the SASSI list not because of the stock status, but rather because of the impact of the fishery on by-catch such as sea birds.\u00a0Our kingklip is sourced from MSC trawled hake suppliers who make use of highly effective by-catch mitigation devices such as \u201cTorry lines\u201d to scare off birds and thus, to a large extent, preventing them from getting caught. It should be noted that there are fishery improvement projects underway to make the kingklip fisheries more sustainable and from a retailer side we are asking our suppliers to get MSC certification on kingklip which would be a guarantee of its sustainability. \u00a0We hope this answers your concerns & questions. Thank you for your support”<\/em>.<\/p>\n On pressing Alana for further information and clarification of where Woolworths is moving in its sustainable seafood programme, we received the following disappointing reply: ‘Given the changes required around SASSI labelling on product, we are in the process of revising and rebranding our fishing for the future initiative, which will cover certified products from the MSC, ASC, Sassi green label, and registered fisheries improvement programmes and new commitments through to 2015 . Please expect a full press release and awareness campaign in the next 4-5 months’. <\/span><\/em>A third e-mail to Alana to request further clarification more urgently resulted in a non-response.<\/p>\n \n Given these disappointing replies, not understanding Alana’s cryptic and acronymic replies, and feeling fobbed off by her e-mails, I checked the Woolworths’ Pantry page on their website, which links blogposts to the theme of MasterChef SA week by week. There is no mention of sustainable seafood for week 15, which focused on seafood, and Woolworths’ commitment to it, as communicated in MasterChef SA’s episode 15.<\/p>\n I then checked the corporate Woolworths website, and under the heading ‘Good Business Journey’<\/em> found a lengthy statement about the retailer’s plan ‘to make a difference in our communities, our country and our world’<\/em>, and its commitment to sustainability across a number of different fields (e.g. fibres, business, ecosystem). The company says it has a comprehensive plan to make a difference in respect of\u00a0‘transformation, social development, the environment and climate change<\/em>‘. \u00a0On the company’s internal sustainability rating it scored 84% in 2010, it writes proudly. It then goes on to list all its awards relating to the environment, sustainability and responsibility. \u00a0There is no mention of its new ‘Fishing for the Future<\/em>‘ initiative in this section at all, and information appears dated, with awards mentioned up to\u00a02010 only!<\/p>\n At the St John’s Piazza branch of Woolworths the following fish types are sold:<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Hake – ‘green’<\/span> rated<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Norwegian salmon – some of the packs have no sustainability rating, others are rated ‘blue’<\/span> (with the same definition as the calamari above)<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Kingklip – ‘orange’<\/span> rated on some packs, other packs not rated<\/p>\n * \u00a0 East Coast sole – ‘orange<\/span>‘ rated<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Angelfish – ‘green<\/span>‘ rated<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Dorado – ‘green<\/span>‘ rated<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Yellowtail – ‘green<\/span>‘ rated<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Salmon fishcakes – no rating, and type of salmon unspecified in one pack type, and ‘blue’<\/span> rated in another pack type!<\/p>\n * \u00a0Norwegian salmon slices – ‘green<\/span>‘ rated (one wonders why it is ‘green’ when its fresh Norwegian salmon is ‘blue<\/span>‘ rated?<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Smoked snoek – no rating<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Mackerel – no rating<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Snoek and haddock fishcakes – ‘blue<\/span>‘ rated<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Pickled fish – ‘blue<\/span>‘ rated, even though its hake content is ‘green’ rated!<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Haddock fishcakes – ‘green<\/span>‘ rated<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Smoked kippers – ‘blue<\/span>‘ rated<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Smoked trout – some packs ‘blue’ <\/span>rated, others not at all!<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Frozen lobster tails, half shell scallops, black tiger prawns, and ‘prawn meat<\/em>‘ * \u00a0 Lightly smoked mackerel – ‘blue<\/span>‘ rated, plus has a confusing green logo to show it is high in Omega 3, and a blue MSC certification logo<\/p>\n * \u00a0 Lightly smoked hake fillets – ‘green<\/span><\/span>‘ rated, and blue MSC logo.<\/p>\n On the SASSI list snoek, West Coast lobster, as well as Alaskan salmon are green rated. Deep-water and shallow-water hake, kingklip, king mackerel (line fished), prawns, East Coast rock lobster (hand collected), Atlantic salmon, sole, and yellowtail farmed in sea cages are all orange rated. \u00a0Norwegian salmon, of which Woolworths sells a large quantity, does not appear on the SASSI list.<\/p>\n MSC stands for Marine Stewardship Council<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, an international organisation that conducts audits of sustainable seafood from catch, to supermarket sales, to restaurant presentation. Nowhere in the Woolworths stores is any information provided about MSC, or is the abbreviation defined, other than two fish types having the MSC eco-label. At St John’s Piazza branch I noticed a second poster, with the three colours Woolworths is using, adding blue to denote ‘farmed or imported, not listed by SASSI<\/em>‘, being downright dishonest and confusing to consumers in making it appear that ‘blue’<\/em> may be a SASSI rating, in that it contains SASSI’s name, cell number, and website address, but makes no mention of MSC! The poster concludes that Woolworths’ ‘fish and seafood is responsibly sourced, legally caught, has full traceability’. <\/em> This poster is smaller than the one at the top of our blogpost, and is not visible to shoppers buying the pre-packaged fish on the opposite shelf, as they would have their back to both posters! \u00a0The staff member at the fresh fish department could not answer any questions, and said she only started working at this Woolworths \u00a0branch yesterday!<\/p>\n \n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> branch of Woolworths a sales poster attracted attention to a frozen hake promotion, and this carried the MSC logo for being ‘Certified Sustainable Seafood<\/em>‘. Nowhere in its outlets does it explain what MSC stands for, and how it differs from the SASSI rating, leading to consumer confusion.<\/p>\n<\/a> packs are all not rated!<\/p>\n