Better Seafood Board Adds New Chair, Board Members

Execs from H-E-B, Gorton’s, Quirch Foods, Trident join fight against fraud

12/8/2023

The Better Seafood Board works with companies and aligned groups in the seafood value chain to help buyers recognize that its seafood providers have taken extra steps to ensure that their products are properly labeled.

The Better Seafood Board (BSB) has added a new chairman and set of members on its board of managers. The 15-member board rotates five seats on an annual basis. While current BSB member Dave Wier, EVP at The Fishin’ Co., has assumed the role of chairman, the new members are Jodi Blanch, senior quality assurance manager at Gorton’s Inc.; Jason Driskill, VP for seafood at H-E-B; Victor Garrido, quality assurance director at Quirch Foods; Brian Head, VP of foodservice sales at Trident; and Mike Kraft, executive director of third-party certification program FISH Standard for Crew. Kraft fills the seat representing the public interest, succeeding chef and author Barton Seaver.

“We’ve got a great group of industry leaders who are energized about fighting fraud,” said Mark Bowen, the National Fisheries Institute’s (NFI) regulatory program manager and secretariat of the Reston, Va.-based BSB. “When we look for nominations to join the team that manages our group, we always find committed high-level professionals willing to step up. It’s heartening.”

The CEOs of NFI member companies sign an annual economic integrity pledge to conduct themselves and their business practices in an honest and trustworthy manner and to abide by industry principles. This year, the pledge has been revised to include a section on proper labeling of not just the products, but their ingredients as well.

“With the addition of this new section, the BSB is committed to providing our members the tools and education to ensure they can meet their commitments,” added Bowen.

For 16 years, the BSB has worked with companies and aligned groups in the seafood value chain to help buyers recognize that its seafood providers have taken extra steps to ensure that their products are properly labeled.

The largest privately held employer in Texas, San Antonio-based H-E-B has more than 420 stores and 145,000 employees in Texas and Mexico. The company is No. 15 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named H-E-B one of its best regional grocery chains in America.