Product

Our Responsibility
We all should join the effort to fight depletion of the world’s fish supply to protect ourselves and future generations. It is critical to support sustainable fishing and aquaculture (fish farming) to keep marine life bountiful.

Sustainable Fishing
Sustainable fishing helps threatened fish recover to a healthy population level. This is extremely important as the demand for seafood grows around the world. Food Lion partners with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute to identify opportunities to improve upon the sustainability of seafood products.

Improvements include:

• harvesting methods that decrease by-catch Any unintentionally caught animals, other than the target animal, during fishing. These will be discarded as unusable. For example, dolphins and whales can be entangled in fishing nets or lines, or caught by hooks or trawl nets.
• Distribution networks that decrease food miles.
  A big part of the environmental impact of food, this is the distance food is transported from the time of catch until it reaches you. This is a big component in calculating the carbon footprint of a food source. Local food and domestic production mean less distance traveled – so less fuel consumed.
• Improved handling to maintain the quality of product
• Incentives for suppliers utilizing these voluntary measures
• Sourcing and promoting local products, particularly when they are in season

Aquaculture
Aquaculture (fish farming) is also a sustainable method for producing seafood. Benefits include:

• economical
• provides a year-round supply
• can be environmentally friendly if done responsibly
• protects wild fish from depletion

Local and Seasonal
Food Lion is committed to providing seafood harvested and processed in our local communities. We are not only supporting the local economy, but also improving the greeness of our distribution network by decreasing food miles. Fewer miles in transport adds up to a smaller carbon footprint and fresher food for you.

Food Lion will source and promote local products whenever possible, particularly when they are in season. It’s not only best to buy seafood when it’s at peak for flavor, but it also helps prevent overfishing and contributes to successful reproduction in wild populations. If you want to go with wild-caught fish, and want them fresh, ask about what’s in season next time you visit the Food Lion Seafood Department.

Food Lion is highly committed to tightening our food safety standards and control systems, from the supply chain to the stores. We extend our responsibility by educating customers and associates on the safe handling of food and responsibly notifying of any food safety issues.

Food Lion is committed to conducting its business with a high standard of business ethics, in compliance at a minimum, with all applicable laws, including laws relating to employment, discrimination, environment, and health and safety.

Food Lion is proactively holding our supply chain partners and vendors to these same values and has adopted a Vendor Code of Conduct for responsible sourcing.

This Vendor Code of Conduct is based on the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) current standard. BSCI is an international organization that provides a business solution for responsible supply chain management. To learn more about BSCI, please visit their website at www.bsci-eu.org.

It is Food Lion’s intent to ensure that all of its Private Brand vendors conduct their business with a high degree of integrity in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.