GSI urges food sector to be more transparent

Alongside the EAT Stockholm Food Forum scheduled from June 13-14, the Global Salmon Initiative (GSI) encourages members of the global food sector to join them in increasing transparency, as part of a drive to accelerate improvements in industry sustainability and future food security.

The GSI, supported by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), urges other food sectors to join them in exposing it all when it comes to key sustainability and environmental data.

"Truth is an essential ingredient of healthy change. Transparency not only accelerates change, it also helps drive it in a productive direction," said Avrim Lazar, Principle Consultant to the Global Salmon Initiative. "We all know that we need to accelerate the pace of change if we are going to provide a sustainable diet for the 9 billion people. At the GSI, we have made transparency at the global, regional and company level one of the pillars of our drive to significantly improve sustainability. Our experience has been that by the letting the sun in, it opens the doors to rapid progress."

The GSI is a leadership group of 12 global farmed salmon companies who are committed to improving the sustainability of their operations and providing a healthy and sustainable product. The Group has recently published their second annual Sustainability Report which features data across 14 key sustainability and environmental indicators, for all 12 member companies across the past 3 years. The report is available on the GSI website.

"The Global Salmon Initiative (GSI) continues to set a leading example in its latest annual Sustainability Report, which indicates that the number of salmon farms certified globally by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) scheme has leapt from 5 to 70 in 2015", said Richard Holland, Director of Market Transformation at WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature). "Importantly, the GSI report enables all stakeholders to follow progress against ASC principles which shows a clear pathway to better production and sets a high bar for transparency that we encourage other industry sectors and platforms such as the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) to adopt," said Mr Holland. 

“Transparency is not only a means to be open and accountable to your consumers, it is an essential component in building and maintaining trust with your customers - especially when it comes to concerns over food safety or sustainability issues", noted Ted van der Put, member of the Executive Board of IDH.

At EAT Forum, global stakeholders from the fields of health, science, food and sustainability are coming together to discuss how to transform the food system to offer both nutritious and sustainable food which work in harmony with our planet. The two-day event takes place at the Clarion Hotel Sign.