CONKLIN, NY (July 20, 2012)—Maines Paper & Food Service has become the first distributor in its region to achieve Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification. The company, based on the eastern seaboard and ranked #6 in the ID Top 50, was granted the certification as a result of its Chain of Custody process.
Charles Feldman, Vice President of Corporate Business Development for Maines, said: "Maines is honoured to be certified by the Marine Stewardship Council and recognises the importance of maintaining a sustainable source of seafood and working with manufacturers who participate in environmentally responsible fishing practices."
Kerry Coughlin, MSC Americas Regional Director, said: “We are proud to welcome family-owned Maines into the Marine Stewardship Council programme and appreciate the significant role they will play in supplying MSC-certified sustainable seafood to customers large and small throughout the east coast.”
Maines is headquartered in Conklin, New York and serves customers from a dozen major distribution centres that are located in Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Maryland, Tennessee, Illinois and Texas. It has been listed in the top ten of ID Report's Top 50 distributor list since 2002, and in Forbes magazine's Top 300 of America's Largest Private Companies list since 2004. A family-owned company, it was started in 1919 to sell nickel candy to local grocers and has grown into a diversified portfolio of products and services with annual revenues of approximately $3 billion.
The MSC Chain of Custody certification is a comprehensive traceability programme that traces seafood from the point of sale back to an MSC certified fishery. It ensures that MSC-labelled products are sourced from a fishery that is MSC certified, and it protects buyers and the fishery from fraudulent labelling and risks from fisheries carrying products from illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing. As a result, the sustainability of the seafood product is ensured, the MSC certified fishery of origin receives well-deserved recognition, and incentive is created for other fisheries to commit to environmentally responsible fishing practices.
The MSC Chain of Custody (CoC) certification focuses on having an internal traceability system and reliable operational systems in place to ensure that MSC certified seafood is kept separate from non-certified seafood. Worldwide, more than 1,800 companies have obtained Chain of Custody certification.
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