UK Food Minister Jim Paice MP has announced a big change to Government plans to introduce sustainability standards for fish bought by Whitehall.

They will now extend to all fish, without any exceptions.

Previously 4 out of 10 fish bought by Whitehall (effectively the British civil service) were to be excluded from the plans.  This meant  public money could have been spent  on Whitehall indirectly  threatening  certain species with extinction.

This important change means that:

• £6.4million of taxpayers’ money will now only be spent on fish from sustainable sources, rather than on fish which is unsustainable and at risk of becoming endangered
• ALL fish served to members of  UK armed forces, prisoners and civil servants will be from sustainable stocks.
• The rules will adopt the seafood sustainability standards that have already been set for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games. You can read more about the government announcement here.

Much of the credit  for this  welcome government change of mind goes to the Good Food for Our Money Campaign, which has been driving this issue through an Internet campaign.

Alex Jackson of the Good Food for Our Money Campaign  said it was now calling on the Government to apply these standards to all fish served in the public sector (rather than just Whitehall), including in schools, hospitals and care homes.

And he asked people to support the “Sustainable Fish City” campaign, to make London the first city where businesses, schools, hospitals, universities and citizens eat only sustainable fish.