11 July 2003
United States
According to information released by the U.S. based Earth Island Institute (EII), the Area Director of Heinz European Seafood, Mr. Adolfo Valsecchi has issued and signed a statement on July 2nd 2003, in which he states that his company will not purchase any tuna products from Calvo, the Spanish canned tuna processor.
According to Heinz they will not buy from Calvo or any of its subsidiary companies because “Calvo has failed to enact a verifiable policy which complies with the EII recommendations and guidelines in regard to the dolphin safe qualifying statusâ€.
In the same letter Heinz Seafood Europe confirms to have a “ longstanding commitment to the protection of dolphins and to managing its tuna operations in a fully dolphin safe mannerâ€.
From the statement it is not clear if indeed Heinz has been buying any tuna from Calvo in the recent past. Generally the two companies are considered to be competitors in the French and Italian canned tuna markets.
The Heinz statement follows after Calvo has decided to adopt the IDCP ( International Dolphin Conservation Program) dolphin safe definition. This definition, which has been supported in a public statement by Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), is not recognized by the Earth Island Institute. The Earth Island Institute is strongly opposing to the move by Calvo, who used to be an EII member, since it considers the IDCP program to be dolphin unfriendly.
