Firmenich Achieves MSC Certification for Seafood Flavors and Ingredients

29 Jan 2014 --- Firmenich, the largest privately held Flavor and Fragrance house, has received certification to the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) Chain of Custody standard for its seafood flavors produced from North East Atlantic Codfish, Saithe, and Haddock. MSC Chain of Custody Certification verifies that any MSC-labeled products originate from fisheries that are certified to the MSC standard for well-managed and sustainable fisheries.

This means that the origin fishery operates in manner that keeps fish stocks, other marine life and eco systems healthy. It also indicates that the origin fishery has made efforts to minimize its environmental impact, abides by all local, national and international laws, and operates under the guidance of accepted scientific findings to ensure sustainable use of the marine resources.

“Receiving MSC-certification is a fantastic sustainability achievement for our Seafood Business,” said Aldo Uva, President of Firmenich Flavors. “Firmenich is committed to building and supporting sustainable business models within the flavor industry and this is a true reflection of our dedication,” he added.

The Firmenich Seafood facility in Ålesund, on the West coast of Norway and with access to fish from the North Atlantic and the Barentz Sea, processes 10,000 tons of seafood raw materials annually. These raw materials are largely by-products from the seafood industry. Through sophisticated biotechnological processes, Firmenich converts the by-product, which had previously been disposed of into the sea, to create seafood extracts and flavors such as Codfish, Shrimp, Lobster, Crab, Squid and other popular seafood tonalities which are used in soup, stocks, sauces and ready-to-eat meals.

By minimizing by-products from the seafood industry and maximizing the value created from the marine resources, Firmenich can help meet the market demand for seafood flavors without adding an extra burden on fish stocks.

The facility focuses on 25 seafood natural materials and 11 species of fish, all which have been caught in the wild. Eighty six percent of the total seafood raw material comes from MSC-certified fisheries. The remaining 14% is from smaller fisheries that are in the process of certification.

Since 1989, Firmenich has been a key player in helping to find ways to better utilize the proteins from the seafood industry by-products in Norway. As part of Firmenich’s continued commitment to help improve the practices of the fishing industry, the company now has an ongoing project supported and partly funded by the Norwegian Governmental Organization “Innovation Norway”, to further develop ways to utilize an additional 180,000 tons of by-products from the Norwegian fishing fleet and to increase value of marine resources, which today are going back into the sea.

Firmenich is the world’s largest privately owned company (No.2 worldwide) in the fragrance and flavor business. Founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1895, it has created many of the world’s best-known perfumes and flavors that we enjoy each day. Its passion for smell and taste is at the heart of its success. It is renowned for its creativity and innovation, as well as its exceptional understanding of consumer trends. Each year, it invests around 10% of its turnover in R&D, reflecting its continuous desire to understand, share and sublimate the best of nature’s offering. Firmenich had an annual turnover of 2.89 billion Swiss Francs at end June 2013.