More than 30 tilapia farms in Hainan, China, recently earned Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification.
Munhall, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.-based firm The Fishin’ Company, a leading tilapia supplier, sponsored the 34 farms to apply for the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s BAP certification.
“This is an exciting milestone in the industry’s journey toward worldwide four-star BAP tilapia,” said Justin Baugh, director of sustainability for The Fishin’ Company. “Our team in China has been working tirelessly to see this initiative through. We are incredibly proud of the hard work the farmers put in to achieve certification.”
Of the 34 tilapia farms, 32 were certified for the first time, while two were re-certified. The 34 farms are part of seven groups that were audited.
Meanwhile, the GAA’s Global Seafood Assurances (GSA) Seafood Processing Standards, which GAA announced at Seafood Expo Global in Brussels, Belgium, last week, are now available for public comment.
The GSA Seafood Processing Standards are the first and only seafood-specific processing-plant standards for both farmed and wild seafood. Based on the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) Seafood Processing Standards, the GSA Seafood Processing Standards encompass all four pillars of responsibility — environmental responsibility, social responsibility, animal health and welfare, and food safety.
“All stakeholders are encouraged to participate in this public comment exercise so that the final standards can benefit from the most broad-based input possible,” said BAP Standards Coordinator Dan Lee.
The 60-day public comment period ends on 1 July.
To comment, download the SPS 5.0 Public Comment Form document, and then submit the form to [email protected] and [email protected].
