Carrefour Belgium named the best supermarket in 2022 for fresh fish by the MSC

The MSC recognises Carrefour Belgium for its achievements in terms of MSC certification and traceability. This year, the organisation has launched the Sustainable Fish Awards in Belgium. The aim of these awards is to publicly recognise the exceptional efforts in the area of sustainability made by entrepreneurs and organisations in Belgium’s fishing sector. Indeed, nowadays organisations are actively striving to make fishing sustainable and to preserve fish stocks – not just for current generations, but for future ones as well. 

Carrefour really is the expert when it comes to fish and mass retail. Alongside a number of sustainable fishing products, its fish counter also sells around ten products from its own Carrefour Quality Line (CQL): mussels, oysters, Ardennes trout, sea bass, salmon, gilt-head breams and Madagascar prawns. CQL products are authentic products created within the framework of long-term partnerships. The production methods protect the environment and the producer is paid fairly. 

The MSC has congratulated Carrefour on this award: 

“Over the last few years, Carrefour has always succeeded in maintaining constructive dialogue with the MSC regarding both its assortment, and the way in which it shares information. The panel also appreciated the efforts to which Carrefour has gone in both of these areas. As a retailer selling fresh fish presented on beds of ice, Carrefour is in a unique position for being able to interact with consumers. Carrefour is currently the only supermarket with a fresh counter to have chosen to keep its MSC certification and honour its traceability requirements. This certification involves independent checks on the origin of certified sustainable fish. This is vital for speaking with any credibility to consumers about sustainable fish, and it entitles Carrefour to display the MSC label on non-packaged products. We remain in contact with Carrefour so we can continue to reach new milestones together.”

“Carrefour is delighted with this recognition and has restated its firm commitment to the food transitionas” 

Geoffroy Gersdorff, CEO of Carrefour Belgium said:

“We are the only retailer in Belgium that is physically present at the Zeebrugge and Ostend auctions, so we are able to select the very best merchandise. This also serves as proof of freshness: the fish purchased in the morning is available in stores the very next day. Professional fishmongers cut up the fish so that they can be sold at counters – retail locations were customers can get advice and choose the parts of the fish that they want. During the festive period, seafood and fresh fish are very popular at Carrefour. Since 40 of our hypermarkets feature a fish counter, Carrefour is the largest fishmonger in Belgium.”

Members of the panel

The independent panel which awarded this prize is made up of the following professionals: 

• Hans Polet – Scientific Director of the Agricultural and Fisheries Research unit
• Sarah Braeye – Project manager, the Superlijst Rikolto project.
• Sarah Hennin – Market Development manager, ASC.
• Jan Kegels – Entrepreneur and manager of the JEA7N sur MER Harbour Café.=