The Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification program has awarded the first Chilean salmon producer with its stamp of approval under its two-year group audit process.
Salmones Multiexport S.A. was one of 14 farms – and the first from Chile – to attain BAP certification through the group audit process, which was established in 2016 and designed specifically for the salmon aquaculture sector. A longtime supporter of the BAP program, Multiexport is now four-star eligible – its products can originate from BAP-certified processing plants, farms, hatcheries, and feed mills, according to the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA), which administers BAP. Multiexport became eligible to offer two-star BAP salmon in 2013, and three-star BAP salmon in 2015.
BAP’s group audit holds farms to “the same requirements set forth in the BAP salmon farm standards, but … allows for fewer third-party audits, reducing costs while maintaining the integrity of the audit procedure,” explained GAA. The major difference between group audits for salmon and other audits conducted by BAP is that it’s a two-year certification period due to a longer crop cycle, with a one-year interim audit at midpoint, GAA added.
Covering the entire aquaculture production chain – from processing plants and hatcheries to farms and feed mills – the BAP program is compliant with the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), the Global Social Compliance Program (GSCP), and the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI). As of the end of June 2019, there were 2,414 BAP-certified farms, processing plants, hatcheries, and feed mills worldwide, as well as more than 150 retail and foodservice program endorsers, GAA confirmed.
Photo courtesy of Multiexport via GAA
