A Pescatarian's dilemma: Trader Joe's fishy practices
by greenlagirl
Pescatarians who shop at Trader Joe's: I have bad news! My favorite supermarket chain got the worst score in Greenpeace's latest seafood sustainability scorecard (PDF), scoring even lower than Target and Wal-Mart!
Greenpeace's scorecard basically looks at supermarkets' fish purchasing policies. Since many fisheries around the globe are in environmental crisis and some seafood species are gravely endangered, Greenpeace has a "red list" of seafood -- like orange roughy, swordfish, and Chilean sea bass -- that should be avoided.
The good news is that the higher scoring supermarkets are starting to put sustainable seafood policies and practices into place. Whole Foods, for example, has made some headway into making sure some imperiled species are banned from their stores. Ahold USA (Stop & Shop, Giant), Target, Harris Teeter, and WalMart are making similar strides.
The bad news -- at least for me -- is that Trader Joes isn't one of those five.
Does that mean we should all stop shopping at Trader Joe's? Not necessarily. After all, Trader Joe's offers healthy, organic products at some of the most affordable prices -- an important fact to keep in mind when the economic downturn's making some forgo organics altogether.
But I'll consult my Monterey Bay Aquarium Sustainable Seafood Guide whenever I go shopping at Trader Joe's or anywhere else, to make sure I avoid buying any enviro-questionable seafood.
If you're lucky enough to have co-ops or other health food markets near you, check to see if that store's on Greenpeace's list of Green Seafood Grocers. While none of the grocers listed are large national chains, supporting one of them can let you let go of your fishy worries while spending your money at a store whose practices align with your values.
Related links:
>> Lori Bongiorno recommends The Blue Ocean Institute’s FishPhone, a text messaging service that can serve as "a convenient alternative for those who don’t care to cart around wallet guides," at Cooler Choice.
>> At Greenpeace's own Making Waves blog, brianfit reveals that the National Fisheries Institute circulated a memo to undermine the nonprofit. Writes brianfit: "Clearly, the idea of ensuring the world has fish for tomorrow by protecting fish stocks today is dangerous anti-capitalist sedition."
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BlogHer Contributing Editor Siel also blogs at greenLAgirl.com.
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Comments
Bad news for fish lovers
This seafood eating/sustainability obsessor is bummed to read this. I hope that TJs, who I LOVE, is on notice about this,
I really wish there was some kind of consistent labeling on seafood. I love to get it from certified sources, but I don't always have that option and when I'm in the supermarket without my seafood watch card - it happened just YESTERDAY - i don't know what to do.
Grrr. Bad TJ's. Bad.
Nerd's Eye View
I like the idea of having
I like the idea of having fish labelling -- Even just green, yellow, and red stickers would do -- to let customers know if a fish they're thinking about buying's an endangered species. Mercury content labeling would be nice too --
For now I just keep the seafood watch card in my wallet -- which makes it easy to pull out at the grocery store or at restaurants :)
green LA girl
NO!
NO!!! I'm very disapointed...
We try to do gluten-free for some of our kidlets....
Trader Joe's is/was (!?!) a lifesaver.
Andrea. Woman. Wife. Mommy. Artist.
Fish Phone to the rescue!
I don't like carrying around a ton of stuff, so I just use Fish Phone (http://fishphone.org) on my iPhone. It has a handy drop-down menu for making sure I eat sustainable species.
If you don't have an Internet-enable phone, you can just text 30644 with the message FISH and the name of the fish in question. They’ll text you back with an assessment and better alternatives to fish
with significant environmental concerns.
Stanford Wife
Sad News
So many people rely on being able to walk into a place like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and feel like they're buying organic, environmentally friendly foods. I'd really appreciate a labelling system for the origin and sustainability of all foods.
aw, I love TJs! That's a bummer.
Thanks for the heads-up! It's too bad that TJs didn't make the grade-- I'm pretty much a pescatarian too and get my fish primarily from Whole Foods and TJs.
The fish phone link is great. I also like the NRDC and EDF pocket cards since they note mercury levels in seafood, as well as sustainability.
Renaissance Trophy Wife: the modern girl's guide to smart lifestyle investments
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Vegetarianism, here we come!
It gets harder and harder to shop AND be a responsible citizen of the earth. As our family moves towards being vegetarians, I find that this kind of news is what is pushing us in that direction. Recently, I have been wondering about Trader Joe's. Do they deserve their reputation as a lower priced Whole Foods? What exactly does Trader Joe's do for the communities that they are serving, the environment, labor, etc.? I prefer to shop at Costco (treat their employees well and get a good rating on www.buyblue.org), Woodman's (employee owned) and our local independently owned grocery store.
Laura