Espresso House Group, the largest coffeehouse chain in the Nordics, has passed a sweeping new seafood welfare policy for its supply chain containing many requirements that are major talking points in both fishing and aquaculture sectors.

Under the new rules, which are to be fully implemented across its supply chain by 2030, the chain mandates humane mechanical or electrical stunning; prohibiting the use of eyestalk ablation on farmed shrimp, as well as the use of bait fish; and banning any wild-catch system that comes with significant bycatch or welfare issues, such as bottom gill nets, bottom and conventional trawlers, drift and gill nets, and dredges.

Other standards in the new policy is a requirement that aquaculture environments meet Global Animal Partnership, RSPCA, or Naturland standards for stocking density, enrichments, crowding and handling; a rule for daily monitoring of water conditions, disease and mortality, and limiting the time of capture and time out of water for wild-caught fish.

Espresso House operates over 500 locations across Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Germany. Its new policy follows similar standards for chickens, pigs and laying hens.

"Working alongside the procurement department and our suppliers, we've been striving to make real changes for animal rights, and we're proud of what we’ve achieved so far," commented Jessica Julin, sustainability manager at Espresso House, on the latest policy announcement.