BRIGHTON and Hove is the ‘plaice’ to be for sustainable seafood.

The city’s 54 state-funded primary schools have been given an A* by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) after a report found every single school was serving sustainable fish.

Using fish from sustainable sources will become mandatory as part of new School Food Standards from January.

While the rest of England is lagging in sustainable food, every one of the city’s 18,399 primary school pupils are being served eco-friendly fish.

The Government is introducing the scheme in an attempt to conserve fish supplies in the UK.

Councillor Sue Shanks, chairwoman of the city’s children and young people’s committee, said: “This is wonderful news and shows that we’re making sure our children eat sustainably.

“This award is for fish served across all our primary and special schools and sits alongside the Soil Association’s Food for Life standard and demonstrates the council’s commitment to improving the overall sustainability of the school meals service.

“Living sustainably is important to the city and food is a vital element in this, so this award is another accolade that shows we are putting our ideals into practice.”

Nationally, 86% of primary schoolchildren are missing out on sustainable fish.

Eden Food Services is in charge of distributing seafood around Sussex.

Toby Middleton, MSC UK senior country manager, said: “If England’s 4.3 million primary schoolchildren can help safeguard fish stocks for their own generation and the ones that follow, we are off to a good start in transforming the supply of seafood to a sustainable basis and recognising the efforts of pioneer fisheries that make a difference on the water.

“We applaud all the hard work that the A-grade Local Education Authorities [LEAs] have been awarded for this first report.

“Chain of Custody is a great way to ensure traceability and is the ultimate commitment for schools and LEAs to keeping oceans healthy, while MSC’s Fish and Kids education programme helps children to understand the need to protect the world’s oceans.”