One of Australia’s supermarket giants has been criticised for failing to meet its own sustainability standards by selling a diminishing species of fish.

Coles supermarket recently stocked a range of yellowfin tuna products, despite its own policy to never use the species, Fairfax Media reported.

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“We do not source Yellowfin, Southern Bluefin or Bigeye tuna, all of which are overfished, or are in danger of being overfished,” the policy said.

“Coles only sources tuna that has been shown by leading scientists to be from stocks that are not overfished.”

A Coles spokesperson told Fairfax Media a Marine Stewardship Council-approved source of sustainably caught Yellowfin had become available.

A spokesperson for Greenpeace said it was “poor practice”.

“We talked to Coles about this and they said they’re going to change their written policy. But they can’t just change their policy just to accommodate a new product. The policy should dictate their behaviour,” Greenpeace oceans campaigner Nathaniel Pelle told Fairfax Media.

“It’s poor practice. How can customers be certain their commitment to sustainability is really genuine? The next time they want to sell something unsustainable, are they going to amend their policy so they can put something on their shelves that shouldn’t be?”