The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is calling for feedback from industry stakeholders regarding its new traceability tool, which aims to bolster supply chain integrity in 60-plus countries upon widespread implementation.
Since 2012, MSC has been piloting the tool – known as the MSC Online Transaction Solution (MOTS) – as it scopes out online systems that will one day be able to handle and verify seafood supply chain transactions on a global scale. Trials for the online solution have been conducted among seven European companies so far, as well as fifteen Chinese companies.
Some companies involved in these initial phases are already giving the tool a thumbs-up. “We took part in trialling the MSC Online Transaction Solution and felt it is an important addition to our business. The tool provides us with added confidence that our brand and products are running through a secure and genuine supply chain handling only certified seafood,” said Alex Olsen with A. Espersen A/S, a MSC-certified processing company in Denmark, in a prepared statement.
As it stands, MSC plans to “roll the tool out to over 3,000 supply chain companies handling certified products in over 34,000 sites around the world.” But before that can happen, the certification body is reaching out to industry partners one more time to assure that the tool is shaped in such a way that it can effectively meet current industry demands as well as those that may arise in the future.
This second and last public consultation on the tool will be held from 17 August to 18 September. To partake in the consultation, MSC encourages seafood industry members to navigate to the MSC’s Program Improvements module here. Interested parties are also encouraged to join an online supply chain interactive workshop taking place on 2 and 3 September courtesy of MSC. Invitations for the workshop can be obtained by emailing [email protected].
If all goes well with the pilot, the tool – which will verify seafood sales and purchase transaction information (such as volume, species, invoice number and transaction date) to mitigate the risk of non-sustainable products from being labelled and sold as certified – will be implemented across the full MSC program by 2018, representatives said.
The MSC Chain of Custody system will be enhanced with the MOTS program, which plays to the dynamism of the seafood industry at large, according to MSC.
“The MSC’s segregation and traceability program is widely recognized as one of the most effective systems for tracking certified seafood along the supply chain” said Titia Sjenitzer, Senior Product Integrity Manager at the MSC. “However, the seafood industry is dynamic. Demand for certified sustainable seafood continues to grow, and other certification schemes, such as the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), are working with the MSC to use our Chain of Custody Standard. This means that more scalable monitoring mechanisms are required to ensure the MSC’s system remains efficient and effective.”
