The Best Grocery Stores To Buy Sustainably Caught Canned Fish

Foods that come from bodies of water like oceans, rivers, lakes, and ponds, better known as blue foods, are a critical source of nutrition and livelihood for billions of people around the world, and where you choose to purchase your fish has a greater influence than you may think. Seafood is the singular most traded food commodity on Earth and by purchasing your canned fish from stores that partner with FishWise, you can rest assured knowing that you're supporting the health of the marine ecosystem and communities who depend on it. 

Blue foods are believed to be the building block toward a diverse, equitable, sustainable, and stable food system, and FishWise is helping to see it through. The non-profit provides environmental and social expertise to companies and partners with grocery chains like Target, Aldi, and Albertsons, and Hy-Vee to ensure that its products meet social, environmental, and legal standards.

It's no secret that the seafood supply chain is a complex one. Global and, for the majority of its history, largely untraceable, the industry is able to carry on with illegal or unethical practices unbeknownst to consumers. The fact that sometimes slave and child labor are embedded within the Thai fishing industry  — the fourth largest seafood exporter in the world, with the United States and European countries as its biggest importers — isn't common knowledge. 

Neither is the data that one in every five fish purchased in the U.S. is mislabeled, fooling customers into thinking they've purchased something locally or sustainably caught when it, in fact, wasn't, per Oceana. Issues like these are rampant, requiring sophisticated and diverse solutions, which is where FishWise steps in. 

Since 2003, FishWise has worked to identify and address the environmental, social, traceability, and illegality risks across the supply chains for Albertsons Companies, the Target Corporation, and Hy-Vee. The efforts extend to over 4,000 stores across the country where you can find canned fish brands that have been vetted by FishWise and have confidence in knowing that your money is going toward organizations that are changing the seafood system from the inside out.