McDonald's To Serve Only Sustainable Fish

By Anthony Todd in Food on Jan 25, 2013 4:00PM

On the heels of the announcement of the new Fish McBites, McDonald's has made another fish-related announcement: All of their fish products will now carry the Marine Stewardship Council seal of approval.

According to the Chicago Tribune, McDonald's began using sustainable fish in 2005, and has now completed a full audit of their supply chain and sourcing systems to ensure maximum compliance with MSC rules. The Marine Stewardship Council is one of a number of organizations that works to provide companies and consumers with advice about which fish are safe to buy.

This move makes McDonald's the first national restaurant chain to put the seal on their products. From a McDonald's release:

MSC certification indicates that over 14,000 McDonald’s restaurants across the US have met the MSC Chain of Custody standard for traceability, which is the ability to track the fish all the way back through the supply chain to the fishery.

Under the MSC certification program, these fisheries have been assessed by independent scientists against three core principles: the health of the fish stock, the impact of the fishery on the ecosystem and the management system that oversees the fishery.

More and more companies, including Whole Foods and Target, are switching to all-sustainable fish. In case you were wondering, your Filet-o-Fish sandwich is made with wild-caught Alaskan pollock.