Providence St. Peter Hospital achieves MSC certification for sustainable, wild-caught seafood
Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, WA, has announced that it is the first hospital in the Providence Health Care System, and the second hospital in North America, to achieve Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Chain of Custody certification for sustainable, wild-caught seafood. MSC certification ensures that seafood products bearing the blue MSC ecolabel are fully traceable to a fishery that has been certified to the global MSC standard as sustainable and well-managed.
In line with Providence Health & Services’ mission and core values of respect, compassion, justice, excellence and stewardship, patients and guests at Providence St. Peter Hospital now have the option to contribute to the health of the world’s oceans by choosing menu items with the blue MSC ecolabel. More than 1500 meals are served daily at Providence St. Peter Hospital, which include MSC certified pan seared Pacific cod and Thai peanut salad or Caesar salad with Oregon pink shrimp.
MSC Chain of Custody certification assures that in every step of the chain – from the fishers, to the processor, to the distributor and the end user – MSC certified seafood is not mixed with or substituted for non-certified seafood. To achieve certification, Providence St. Peter Hospital worked with MSC Chain of Custody certified foodservice distributor, Food Services of America (FSA), to ensure complete traceability through the supply chain.
Sustainability is essential to core value of stewardship
“We’re proud to offer MSC certified sustainable seafood to patients and guests and provide the choice to support healthy oceans,” said Gerald Roundy, director of Hospitality, Providence Southwest Washington Region. “Sustainability is essential to our core value of stewardship and we continuously strive to lead the way to a healthier future for our people, resources and the earth.”
Providence St. Peter Hospital has been recognized for additional sustainability initiatives including a high recycle rate, increased energy efficiency from recycling boiler heat, and excellent indoor environment standards, resulting in being named the Smartest Building in America by Siemens Industry, Inc. for demonstrating sustainable and efficient facility operations. St. Peter has also reduced water use from 61 million gallons a year down to 28 million gallons a year during the past 15 years.
Leadership contributes to health of the world’s oceans
“We congratulate the demonstrated leadership of Providence St. Peter Hospital as the second hospital in North America to earn MSC Chain of Custody certification,” said Geoff Bolan, MSC’s U.S. Program Director. “By looking for the blue MSC ecolabel and choosing MSC certified seafood, patients, guests and staff are able to reward sustainable fisheries and help to ensure the health of the world’s oceans for this and future generations.”
About the MSC Chain of Custody certification
Initiated by Gerald Roundy, who led the MSC certification of Virginia Mason Hospital with his team in 2014, the MSC Chain of Custody certification of Providence St. Peter Hospital was completed by an independent, third party assessment body, SCS Global Services. For more information on the MSC Chain of Custody certification process, visit www.msc.org/get-certified/supply-chain.