Tuna mix-up exposes lax controls on caterers

Endangered fish on menu ‘in error’ ; no sustainability criteria for restaurants.

The menu in a European Commission restaurant was last week offering diners Atlantic bluefin tuna – even though the species is endangered and earlier this year the European Union proposed a ban on international trade in the fish.

The catering contractor running the restaurant said this week that there had been a mistake on the menu and the fish offered was yellowfin tuna.

But the mix-up has exposed that the Commission does not set sustainability criteria for its canteens and restaurants.

A Commission spokesman said: “We do not ‘police’ our contractors’ sources as such. However, we stipulate clearly in the contract that the contractor must respect Belgian legislation in all matters.” He said that this included making sure they use only products that can be legally sold from legal entities.

Atlantic bluefin tuna is endangered but its sale is still permitted in Belgium. A ban on its sale was not approved at the last meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, despite the Commission’s attempts to achieve one.

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The à-la-carte restaurant known as ‘29’ ( it is located at number 29, rue de la Science) is exclusive to Commission officials and their guests. It is run by Eurest Services, which runs the Commission’s other restaurants and canteens, and is owned by the Compass Group.

The ‘29’ menu for last week (19-23 July) offered thon rouge de l’Atlantique in an antiboise sauce served with green roasted asparagus with parmesan cheese and fettucini, at a price of €11.55.

Chris King, a spokesman for the Compass Group, said the tuna used was not Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) but yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), from the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. “We don’t serve bluefin tuna. We think there was a mistake in translation,” said King.

Sustainable sourcing

A Commission spokesman acknowledged that the Commission has no clause in its catering contract with Eurest Services on sustainable sourcing of food products.

By contrast, a spokesman for the European Parliament said the Parliament does stipulate in its contract with its caterer, Sodexo, that it “respect” rules that all food supplies be sustainably sourced. The company manages two lists of products, one red and one yellow. Red-listed products, including bluefin tuna, can never be served, while those on the yellow list can only be served infrequently.

A call made to check the catering policy of the Council of Ministers, which has a contract with the Italian company Unijolly, was not returned.

Marie-Emilie Guele from the WWF conservation group said the menu mishap showed the Commission “was not being consistent with its own policies” on trying to preserve bluefin tuna stocks.

She said the Commission and other EU institutions had to practise what they preached by making sure that caterers for EU canteens derived their food from sustainable sources.

Saskia Richartz at Greenpeace said tests run by the group showed that it was common for fish to be mislabelled in restaurants and supermarkets.

The Commission spokes-man said: “The ‘29’ restaurant is now shut for six weeks. We will raise this issue immediately with the company that runs it and advise that bluefin tuna not be on the menu in future, either here or in any other Commission restaurants.”