Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Certification Update

Fortune Illinois, Minnesota, Kansas City, St. Louis, Coastal retail stores and Empire Seafood all maintained and passed their recertification for MSC & ASC certification. This year we added Alabama, and D’Artagnan (New Jersey & North Carolina) to the list of MSC & ASC Chain of Custody certified distribution centers. Yay! Great job everyone in getting certified.

MSC/ASC training rolled out in every division as part of annual employee training. The training includes details on the certification such as what it means to be certified and what claims can be made. Be sure to always notify Quality of any new species or new suppliers that need to be added to the certificates.

Plastic Free July

The John G. Shedd Aquarium is leading the charge in the global movement to encourage reducing single-use plastics for cleaner waterways and a healthier environment. You can join the movement of Plastic Free July by:
 

Replacing single-use disposable plastic items with reusables.  
Dining at restaurants participating in the first ever Plastic Free Restaurant Week, July 12-21.
Following Shedd Aquarium on social media to track and share what you’ve done to reduce plastic.
Joining Shedd Aquarium Action Day to clean up plastic litter along Chicago’s waterfront.

Traceability & FSMA Data Alignment

One of the major steps in further developing Fortune’s sustainability program is data collection. There are key data elements that need to be communicated/collected to determine if a seafood product is sustainable. Then there is tracking that usage and reporting it internally and externally to our customers, suppliers, and the rest of the seafood community. This requires working with lots of teams across all Fortune location.

As customers are preparing for the Food Safety Modernization Act Food Traceability Final Rule (204) to go into effect in 2026, we are receiving requests to sign up for data collection systems like Trace Register that will relay data to systems that our customers are utilizing or onboarding. Fortune will be utilizing a system that will be following Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) standards, meaning it will talk to these other systems. This interoperability reduces the need for everyone in the supply chain to buy into same system or a bunch of different systems to please their customers. If you are getting requests from customers about traceability or regulatory compliance systems or processes, please forward those requests to sustainability@fortunefishco.net

Looking ahead to Traceability

Fortune is prepared to begin collecting the following data points in Seasoft for all seafood products by lot across all Fortune distribution centers (using Seasoft) beginning in Q3. This is very exciting and will give us more insight to the source of our products.

• Product origin
• Catch area
• Landing location
• Certification
• Gear type/farm method