Mowi UK wins ASC Retail Supplier of the Year Award

We were delighted to be recognised at the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) UK Awards last month. Mowi Consumer Products (CPUK) was awarded ASC UK Retail Supplier of the Year 2022 – the first time this award has been given to a retail supplier.

The ASC awards aim to recognise the efforts made to deliver responsible seafood to UK customers. The award acknowledges the work that is involved with hundreds of colleagues throughout the supply base to drive sustainability within the whole supply chain.

This award achieves a mutual objective identified by Mowi and its leading own label customer back in 2015 which was to raise the standards of responsible sourcing by working with an independent means of certification. This would give an increasing number of shoppers confidence that the salmon they are buying is not only good for them but good for the environment and local communities too. Mowi recognised the gap to offer consumers salmon that is both Scottish and ASC certified.

Gaining ASC accreditation took many teams within Mowi a long time to attain, and now they have been rewarded with the first-ever ‘ASC Retail Supplier of the Year’ award this October.

There were many hurdles to overcome, including:

• sourcing only traceable and sustainable ingredients for feed
• evolving the standards for the freshwater life stage of salmon
• deploying more natural methods of fish care and protection during the three years it takes to raise salmon
• going above and beyond, with a dedicated team recruited to ensure that quality processes and high standards were met, ready for regular and in-depth scrutiny from ASC

Speaking about the achievement, Chris Ninnes, ASC CEO, said: “These awards recognise, not only the significant commitment that it takes for a retailer to convert its entire farmed seafood category to responsibly produced aquaculture, but also the dedication of one of its major suppliers to meet these commitments. This takes collective hard work throughout the supply chain to deliver certified seafood on a daily basis.”

The award is a significant milestone for Mowi Scotland and Mowi CPUK which has invested heavily in the team and the operations at Rosyth, expanding capacity, increasing efficiency and extending its range of salmon products for UK retailers.

Acknowledging the ASC award, Bertil Buysse, Managing Director of Mowi CPUK, said: “This award recognises the dedication of the team here at Rosyth and across Mowi Scotland to produce healthy salmon, farmed responsibly to a very high standard in Scotland and present this healthy protein in lots of different ways, from smoked to flavoured salmon portions, to consumers across the UK.”

Dougie Hunter, Technical and Operations Director of Mowi, added: “Mowi is committed to providing customers with leading third-party certifications that recognise suppliers that go above and beyond on social, environmental and food quality criteria. The ASC standard helps Mowi build trust with leading retailers, and it’s great to be recognised.”