 |
| Wegmans seafood clerk Linda Sanderson shows off a tray of farm-raised shrimp from Belize at the Upper Peach Street store in Millcreek Twp. on Thursday, November 1st, 2007. The two Erie-area Wegmans grocery stores are offering the shrimp as a healthy seafood raised with a reduced environmental impact. The shrimp, which currently sells for $7.99 a pound, is raised with no antibiotics or hormones, processed with no preservatives, is raised in less water than other farm-raised shrimp and the animals' waste is recycled into fertilizer. (Christopher Millette / Erie Times-News) |
Wegmans supermarkets, with the help of the nonprofit organization Environmental Defense, has created a new, more environmentally friendly standard for raising shrimp.
"We worked with Environmental Defense to establish standards that address many of the serious health and environmental concerns surrounding the shrimp-farming industry," said Jeanne Colleluori, Wegmans spokeswoman.
The bonus, she said, is that the shrimp taste better than their conventionally farmed counterparts.
"Anyone will be amazed by the flavor of these," she said about the new brand of shrimp, which is raised in the Central American nation of Belize. "They have a clean, rich flavor. Some people say it almost tastes like lobster."
Colleluori said Wegmans customers wanted the chain to push for improvements in shrimp farming.
"Over the years we have been hearing more and more customer concerns about environmental issues," she said. "One of the things that we hear about is concern about the effects of farmed aquaculture on the natural environment."