Published:01 July 2017
Morrisons has announced that from today (Wednesday 19th July) it will start selling British cod again. It will be the first time in more than two decades that cod from the North Sea has been seen on the supermarket’s fish counters.
British cod is being brought back because of a recovery in cod stocks, because it will very fresh, and because it will be caught by British fishing boats. The move follows the Marine Stewardship Council’s decision on July 18th to award British North Sea cod their blue label, which tells shoppers that consuming the fish will not endanger fish stocks.
- After a fall in North Sea cod stocks, measures put in place to limit catches have resulted in stocks recovering to a point where the fishery can now be classified as sustainable. These measures will continue to safeguard stocks and all North Sea cod sold in Morrisons will be within the current quotas.
- Until now, British supermarket shoppers wanting to buy cod, only had the option of fish caught off Norway and Iceland. The move by Morrisons will allow consumers to not just support the British fishing industry by buying North Sea cod, but also enjoy a product that is fresher because it is landed quickly and gets to the supermarket’s fish counters sooner.
- The new product, which will be called ‘Morrisons The Best British cod’, will be available at both the Morrisons fish counters, where its expert fishmongers will cut fillets to customers’ requirements, or as pre-cut packed fillets stocked to the side of the counter.
- Morrisons will pack the cod at it seafood processing site in Grimsby before it is quickly transported to stores.
- Amy Austin, Morrisons category director for fish, said: “Customers told us that they wanted the option of buying British cod that’s caught by British trawlers. And because it’s landed in British ports, it gets to our fishmongers faster and is extremely fresh.”