Sustainable Seafood: on your health radar?

Are you looking to include more seafood in your diet this year? You might want to check out the healthiest and most sustainable choices here...

Looking to eat healthier this year? Is one of your New Year’s resolutions to focus on healthy sustainable seafood? Then you might want to check out a long-standing project, Seafood Watch, supported by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. 

The Seafood Watch program provides consumers with a path to choosing healthy sustainable seafood. Reports such as “The Best of the Best” are updated to feature clear choices.  The most recent recommendations include: Atlantic Mackerel (purse seine from Canada and the US), Freshwater Coho Salmon (farmed in tank systems, from the US), Pacific Sardines (wild-caught), Salmon (wild-caught, from Alaska), Salmon, canned (wild-caught, from Alaska).

Additionally, the program offers other healthy “best choices,” which are low in contaminants and provide a smaller amount of omega-3s. Combining both conservation and public health research, the Monterey Bay Aquarium also developed its "Super Green" seafood list highlighting selections that are both good for human health and do not harm the oceans. The Super Green list highlights products that are currently on the Seafood Watch "Best Choices" list, are low in environmental contaminants and are good sources of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

How does Seafood Watch come to their recommendations? This effort draws from experts in human health, notably scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).  A report is completed for each item and circulated to outside experts for review and critique. At the conclusion of this process, a final seafood report, complete with recommendations, is posted on The Seafood Watch website.

Visit the website much more information, downloadable pocket guides, as well as a great app. Visit www.seafoodwatch.org to learn more about how the program can work for your store and your customers.