Whole Foods Markets — the company Amazon bought in 2017 to offer online fresh produce for delivery — has named Kvaroy Fiskeoppdrett and its Pacific Northwest supplier, Blue Circle Foods, as favoured suppliers.
At a ceremony Thursday for its Supplier of the Year awards, Norwegian producer, Kvaroy Blue and Blue Circle were recognized in the Environmental Stewardship category, a nod the certification salmon-producers now seek for their brands and at more of their sites.
SalmonBusiness called Kvaroy Friday and failed to make contact, but the company says it uses no antibiotics, plant-protein feed and stocks just 20 kilograms of swimming salmon per cubic meter of water column at its arctic marine grow-outs off the north-Norwegian island from which they’ve taken their name.
Fish-in, fish-out
“Through their farm and feed partnerships, there has been a significant improvement in fish-in-fish-out ratios, which considers the use of fishmeal and fish oil in feeds and the amount of wild fish it takes to produce farmed fish. Blue Circle continues to serve as a key supplier in Whole Foods Market’s smoked and frozen salmon categories while maintaining the same high level of stewardship,” Whole Foods said.
The company also claims to have a fish-in, fish-out ration of less-than 1-to-1, a nod to using less than one wild fish to produce one farmed-fish. Fishmeal and fish oil from wild fish are the ingredients in much fish feed.
Whole Foods man
Whole foods said the sixth annual Supplier Awards Wednesday night spotlighting producers that “exemplify the grocer’s mission and core values through their commitment to quality, environmental stewardship, ethical sourcing, and culinary innovation”. The two seafood companies were alone among 27 suppliers that included bakeries, bathroom products and antibiotic-free chicken farmers.
Whole Foods partner, Blue Circle Foods, is a Washington-based company and smoked salmon and wild-fish brand. Apart from its supplier Kvaroy, it names Icelandic farmer, Arnalox, from the remote Westfjords part of Iceland, as a supplier.
In April 2017, Blue Circle Foods reportedly hired Whole Foods’s seafood expert, David Pilat, and then declared its goal to grow in Japan and in the US. Pilat is now reportedly company vice-president of business development.
