Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) worked with seafood expert, National Geographic fellow, and Program Director at the Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment, Barton Seaver, to develop a model institutional sustainable seafood purchasing program that balances cost, sustainability, and health.
Criteria for Sustainability:
(any combination of the below)
- Certified by a recognized resource
- Locally/domestically sourced
- An abundant species
- Where appropriate, off-cuts used to ensure no waste of fish
Key Factors in Sourcing Sustainable Seafood:
- Price – good for HUDS and for the fishermen
- A volume available for our scale of ordering (700-1,200 lbs per service)
- Customer taste/choice
- Can be purchased in a manner we can prepare (already fileted, etc.)
Sustainable fish on HUDS' menus:
- atlantic cod
- alaskan cod (wild)
- artic char
- catfish (farmed)
- fluke
- haddock
- lobster
- mussels (farmed)
- oysters
- pollock
- sea scallops (wild)
- squid
- swai/basa
- swordfish
- tilapia (farmed)
