By DOUG GRAVES

Ohio Correspondent

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Meijer, the Grand Rapids-based retailer that operates 235 supercenters and grocery stores throughout Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin, has announced the launch of a comprehensive seafood sustainability initiative, to ensure all its seafood suppliers follow specific sustainability guidelines for both farmed and wild-caught seafood.

Meijer is embarking on this sustainability commitment thanks to a new partnership with Indian Brook Trout Farm of Jackson, Mich. This trout farm is the nation’s only fresh pack Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certified aquaculture facility and uses a 10,000-year-old aquifer located 180 feet below the surface. Its new processing plant is to be operating in the most responsible and sustainable manner.

BAP is an international certification program based on achievable, science-based and continuously improved global performance standards for the entire aquaculture supply chain (farms, hatcheries, processing plants and feed mills) that assure healthful foods produced through environmentally and socially responsible means.

“Indian Book Trout Farm is supplying us with some of the highest-quality rainbow trout available,” said Dave Wier, Meijer’s seafood buyer. “The trout is raised in crystal clear and cool waters coming out of that deep aquifer in Jackson. We also chose this farm because it’s a short drive to our distribution facility and our stores.

“Beginning in April, our customers across the Midwest will have the opportunity to purchase the freshest, locally grown rainbow trout and customers can appreciate that the fish is caught and farmed in the most responsible way. Not only is this the right thing to do for the environment, but the seafood they buy from us comes from sources that do not deplete or damage the resource.”

The majority of the seafood Meijer sells comes from the aquaculture industry. The grocer has partnered with the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) to help the company maintain high standards for farmed seafood by ensuring its seafood suppliers operate in the most beneficial way for the industry and the environment.

GAA Executive Director Wally Stevens commended Indian Brook Trout Farm for attaining its BAP certification, which is based on independent audits that evaluate compliance with BAP standards.

“To be BAP-certified is to prove your commitment to the environment, social integrity and the health of the animal and public,” he said.

After retiring from the hospital industry, Owen Ballow purchased Indian Brook Trout Farm in 2013, following an eight-year search for the perfect location for his aquaculture investment. Today, his 90-acre fish farm in western Jackson County houses 350,000 rainbow trout at varying stages of growth, from eggs to maturity. The fish are fed an 85 percent all-plant diet.

All the fish waste is collected and sold to hops farmers because of its beneficial soil bacteria and neutral pH levels, and the water is returned to the natural aquifer clean.

“We are the only commercial grower in the state who does it this way,” Ballow said.

Indian Brook Trout Farm can deliver fresh trout to Meijer stores just two days after an order has been placed. Farm biologist Chris Ballow said it all starts about 18 months in advance.

“It takes 18 months to go from a fish egg to a harvestable product,” he explained. “Fish are the most efficient converters of food to protein than any species.”

According to fish biologist Mark Rayburn of Newtown, Ohio, a fish’s protein retention is roughly at 31 percent, while with chickens it’s 21 percent, hogs are 18 percent and cattle are 15 percent.

“Fish have the highest energy retention as well,” he said. “Fish will meet the protein needs of our growing population.”

Rayburn is also enthusiastic that Meijer has reached out to a Michigan aquaculture farm, and hopes other retailers follow suit.

“Wild-caught fish is highly sought after, but so, too, is farm-raised fish,” he said. “Fish farmers throughout the tri-state region are keeping their eyes on this strategic move by Meijer in hopes it will eventually improve their bottom line down the road. There are enough aquaculture farms in this region to supply these food chains.”

Meijer will be the exclusive supercenter carrying fish from Indian Brook Trout Farm. According to Wier, trout is one of the retailer’s best-selling fish.