Traceability in the seafood sector is a process that involves the tracking of seafood products throughout the supply chain, from the point of origin to their final destination. This process is crucial to ensure food safety, quality control, regulatory compliance and sustainability.
One of the SEA2SEE Project’s most recently published deliverables, D1.5 “PROTOCOL ON ALIGNMENT OF SEA2SEE TECHNOLOGY WITH THE SEAFOOD CERTIFICATION PRACTICES IN THE EU”, includes an evaluation of the most important certification schemes in fisheries and aquaculture, based both on the analysis of relevant standards and requirements and a comparative scoring matrix that was developed.
Landing Aquaculture BV assessed existing sustainability labels in their capacity to provide traceability information to the international public in digital form. These features would ease integration with the SEA2SEE ecosystem.
The assessment criteria included geographic coverage, presence or absence of traceability requirements, and if labelling is available for consumers. Out of 26 aquaculture labels identified worldwide, 8 have international coverage, and have traceability requirements, and 6 possess label for their certified products. Of these, only 2 have a solution for the end-consumer to track their labelled seafood products.
The full report authored by Universidade de Aveiro is available here.