I am attending a meeting in Montreal this week on ecolabeling in Canada, along with representatives from the MSC, Wal-Mart, and some industry people. The conference is being organized by the DFO to look at the future of ecolabels in Canada.
The Canadian cold water shrimp fishery is the largest Canadian fishery to seek an MSC label, which should help market the product in the major markets like the UK and Germany / Scandinavia.
But in preparing for the conference, I have been struck by how much the landscape has changed since 1997 when the MSC was founded. At that time, there was still a lot of industry resistance to overfishing, and the idea of using consumer pressure to help conserve stocks seemed necessary.
Today, especially in IFQ or cooperative fisheries, the issue of overfishing is moot as they are increasingly well managed, and there is no incentive in the system for overexploitation.
The new threat to the customer trust and the supply chain reliability, which initially drove many retailers to embrace the MSC, now focuses on food safety and traceability. My question at this conference is whether retailers now see ecolabels as part of a broader attempt to ensure traceability and food safety, and if so, does this change their approach: i.e. they can use many different types of certifications, so long as they are credible.
The second issue is that food safety is a governmental responsibility. Does this mean that we will see an evolution to a government certified ecolabel, similar to a "usda organic" label, for example.
Well said.
Posted by: Vangie | October 24, 2008 at 04:02 AM