Nofima (the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research) on Tuesday announced that two new ISO traceability standards — one for wild fish and one for farmed — have been approved.
They are the first standards with this level of detail for food traceability and will provide consumers worldwide with access to more information about the seafood they consume, according to Nofima.
The new standards specify which data elements must be recorded for each link in the production chain — fishing boat or farm, fish processing company, transport company and wholesaler and retailer.
“Few Norwegian companies are using all the parts of the standards that are in existence today. But in the future I think more companies will adopt this,” said Petter Olsen, Nofima senior scientist. “The companies which follow the standards can have advantages reaching customers through a strong environmental profile and can have opportunities for more predictable and long-term contracts and higher prices. The ISO standards will also lead to better exchanging of information and prevent duplication of work for the companies.”
