Ocado Retail, a joint venture between Marks & Spencer and Ocado Group, announced an updated seafood sourcing policy strengthening welfare requirements for farmed fish and crustaceans across its Sourcing with Integrity program. The policy applies to all farmed seafood within Ocado Own Range spanning chilled, frozen, and ambient categories, including fish used as ingredients in food products and excluding pet food.
“At Ocado Retail Limited, we recognise that all fish, cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans are sentient and as such, have the capacity to feel pain and suffer, in alignment with the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 and scientific literature,” the company stated in its updated policy. “We are committed to their welfare throughout the supply chain.”
Daily Monitoring and Disease Management
The policy mandates daily tracking of water conditions including temperature, pH, turbidity, oxygen, ammonia, and carbon dioxide levels across farmed operations. Disease tracking and mortality monitoring represent baseline operational requirements, establishing continuous data collection as central to welfare compliance verification.
Disease prevention through vaccination and treatment protocols address systemic health management rather than reactive intervention, positioning prophylactic measures as mandatory practice. The requirement extends beyond individual farm compliance to supply chain-wide implementation across all Ocado suppliers.
All slaughter must use electrical or percussion/mechanical stunning to produce instant insensibility followed by death while insensate, establishing specific stunning method requirements aligned with scientific evidence on rapid unconsciousness protocols. The requirement prevents slower asphyxiation methods while ensuring animals lose consciousness before slaughter.
Wild-caught suppliers face requirements to reduce pre-slaughter mortality, lower bycatch rates, and minimize time out of water, addressing welfare challenges specific to capture and transport of wild-caught species. The requirements acknowledge that wild-caught welfare differs from farmed operations while maintaining comprehensive animal welfare standards across sourcing types.
Alignment with Model Seafood Welfare Standard
Ocado’s policy aligns with the Model Seafood Welfare Standard, a common-sense framework for aquatic animal welfare endorsed by a dozen animal protection NGOs working in the sector. The standardized approach enables consistency across multiple retailers and suppliers while establishing scientifically-grounded baseline requirements.
“We congratulate Ocado Retail on strengthening its seafood sourcing policy and expanding its welfare requirements for farmed fish and crustaceans,” said Astrid Duque, Sustainability Program Director at Lever Foundation, which collaborated on policy development. “We have really valued working with the Ocado team on these great measures, which will make a meaningful difference to the welfare of aquatic animals in the company’s supply chain. We hope that more retailers take the same great steps forward that Ocado has done.”
Ocado joins UK retailers including Sainsbury’s and Co-op UK, alongside international chains such as Costco and S Group, in establishing strong seafood welfare policies. Global food service companies including Pret a Manger, DO&CO, gategroup, and Espresso House have similarly implemented aquatic welfare standards.
