Fish and Seafood

Asda Seafood Sourcing

We prioritise sourcing wild caught fish species from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fisheries,  or those progressing to achieve MSC certification through credible Fisheries Improvement Programmes.  

**In 2025, 95% of wild caught fish sourced for sale in our stores is MSC certified or working toward MSC certification.** 

Asda also works with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP), to assess fisheries’ sustainability. We have been working in partnership with SFP since 2011 to better understand the risks within our seafood supply chain. 

Through collaboration with the SFP Ocean Disclosure Project (ODP) we were the first UK supermarket to publicly disclose own brand wild-caught and farmed seafood sourcing data. The data includes species and location, production method (for aquaculture species), certification and improvement status, sustainability ratings and environmental notes. More information on our fish and seafood sourcing can be found here - https://oceandisclosureproject.org/companies/asda. 

Farmed Seafood

Aquaculture or farming seafood is an increasingly important source of food. Popular UK fish choices, such as salmon, trout and warm water prawns, are all typically farmed. We are working with our suppliers to reduce the impacts of aquaculture systems, and our farmed seafood must be produced in line with Best Aquaculture Practice, Global GAP or Aquaculture Stewardship Council certified schemes. 

Our seafood suppliers continue to work with producers to identify how best to improve health and welfare for aquaculture species. For example, they are trialling the use of different options of feed ingredients such algal derived ingredients to reduce requirement for fish derived products. Asda have also worked with New England Seafood International (NESI) to successfully introduce humane stunning of sea bass and sea bream for all fish supplied to Asda. 

Pelagic fisheries

Pelagic fisheries, for species like tuna and mackerel are extensive and involve multi-national management and engagement. This can often result in unique challenges related to management, disagreement across countries and stakeholders on impacts of quota and quota sharing, impacting the sustainability of stocks. 

Through membership and participation in the Global Tuna Alliance and North Atlantic Pelagic Advocacy Group we work in collaboration with peers and experts across these fisheries to help promote the need for engagement, alignment and further progress on management standards. 

- https://www.globaltunaalliance.com/

- https://napafisheries.org/

These groups also play an import role in engaging fisheries, like blue whiting, used in fish meal and oil supply chains which are important to aquaculture systems.

Atlantic Mackerel

Following the suspension of MSC certification for the North Atlantic Mackerel Fishery in 2019 and the failure of coastal states in subsequent years to agree suitable harvest control measures we operate unique requirements for North Atlantic Mackerel sourcing. 

These are designed to prioritise sourcing from coastal states that are taking positive action to better manage pressures on the shared stock and help it return to levels necessary for MSC certification. 

Tuna

From 2025 all our canned tuna is sourced from MSC certified fisheries.  

In addition to our standard seafood sourcing requirements the tuna used in our products must come from either:  

• Pole and line fisheries 

• Fish aggregation device (FAD)-free fisheries  

• Or, fisheries which use FAD’s but only where participating in credible Fisheries Improvement programmes. 

Prawns

Prawns and other decapod crustaceans are sentient animals capable of feeling pain. Working with our suppliers we have made progress with many phasing out eyestalk ablation for broodstock from our supply chains to help improve welfare. We aim for all farmed prawns used in ASDA products to be from ablation free broodstock by 2027.  

We are also committed to optimising stunning for prawns by ending traditional practices of thermal shock and adopting electrical stunning, or methods that deliver better welfare outcomes where verified by independent research. This will start with white leg shrimp by 2028, and we are reviewing feasibility for implementation in black tiger prawns at the earliest opportunity.