Food retailers and wholesalers take action to support sustainable operations through sector or company initiatives, reducing resource use and the environmental impacts of our operations. We innovate on packaging, help consumers and suppliers reduce food waste and phase out chemicals.
Since 2010, Sonae has developed action guidelines, as part of its Environmental Policy, dedicated to the preservation of marine ecosystems, species, and fish stocks. Within the Fishing Sustaina-bility Policy good practices, MC communicates to its customers the source and risk associated with each fish species via the Traffic Light System. This tool makes it possible to assess purchases according to the level of sustainability of fisheries. Between 2022 and 2021, Sonae has increased the species in the green category by 3pp. As part of Sonae’s continuous efforts, the species in the red category, also known as endangered species, only represent 1% of our purchases.
“To ensure that our businesses are not contributing to the overexploitation of fish stocks, we assess every three years the conservation status of over 200 species sold through our Perishables and Private Brand products. The risk is defined in accordance with the IUCN Red List and the level of exploitation of the stocks.
The Group adopts different strategies depending on whether species are classified as “vulnerable”, “endangered” or “”critically endangered””. One example is that of the European eel, classified as “”critically endangered””. We do not sell this species because, although from aquaculture, production systems depend on the collection of “”juveniles”” (glass eels) from natural environments, continuing to put pressure on wild populations. “
