Vital Choice recognized by the Marine Stewardship Council for sustainable sourcing practices
Randy Hartnell, Vital Choice Founder, and Dave Hamburg, Vital Choice President, receive the Ocean Champion award from Laura Johnson of MSC in August 2021. Photo Credit: Susan Emmons for Vital Choice Wild Seafood & Organics, 2021
WASHINGTON – August 11, 2021 - Vital Choice Wild Seafood & Organics, a food delivery company based in Washington State, was awarded the U.S. Ocean Champion award by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) today. The award acknowledges and celebrates U.S. retail and fisheries partners who have gone above and beyond to demonstrate their dedication to healthy oceans and a transparent supply chain. The annual award recognizes MSC partners for ensuring an ocean full of life now and into the future.
Founded by fisherman Randy Hartnell over 20 years ago, Vital Choice has long supported MSC and its goal of promoting sustainable seafood sourcing to help protect seafood as a source of nutritious wild food while keeping our oceans healthy. Vital Choice is proud that so many of its products carry the MSC blue label – a third-party certification for wild, sustainable seafood. The MSC blue fish label can only be applied to wild-caught fish or seafood from a fishery that has been independently assessed for its impacts on wild fish populations and the ecosystems they are a part of. To earn the label, every company within that supply chain must have a valid MSC Chain of Custody (CoC) certificate. To achieve and maintain CoC certification, a business must be regularly audited against the CoC Standard by an independent certification body and must undergo reassessment every three years. Vital Choice has been an MSC partner since 2001.
“We truly believe in keeping our oceans healthy and built our company around the idea of sustainable sourcing,” says Dave Hamburg, Vital Choice President. “We have been proud to work alongside MSC for so many years helping to educate customers and others in the fishing industry on the importance of sustainable fishing.”
“Congratulations to Vital Choice on being named a 2020 MSC U.S. Ocean Champion awardee,” said Eric Critchlow, MSC US Program Director. “The awards are designed to recognize MSC partners for going above and beyond the MSC commitment, and Vital Choice has demonstrated that with their 20-year partnership record, line of MSC labeled products, and dedication to educating customers about the need to support healthy fisheries.”
The U.S. Ocean Champion Award recognizes Vital Choice’s dedication to sustainable sourcing and their company mission to “promote [its] customers' health and well-being by providing natural, sustainably harvested seafood products of superior quality at a fair price.”
