Charoen Pokphand Foods aims to have its shrimp production facilities in Vietnam, India, and the Philippines source 100 percent of all fishmeal used from International Fishmeal and Fish Oil Organizations Responsible Supply standard (IFFO RS)- certified sources, the company announced on 29 October.
The announcement is part of CP Food’s ongoing commitment to ending all illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in both its own supply chain, and in suppliers across the region.
The company already announced a drive to have 100 percent auditing of suppliers, primarily fishmeal suppliers, on all sustainability aspects like environmental, human rights, and labor issues. Since it is primarily an aquaculture company, fishmeal is one of the company’s only links to the ocean and ocean-based sustainability issues.
“We have a purchasing policy to only purchase by-product fishmeal, which is traceable and sourced from processing plants certified by IFFO RS or the IFFO RS Improvers Programme (IFFO RS IP), and by-catch fishmeal from suppliers which have been certified according to international standards or legally examined by various parties including officials, representatives from Department of Fisheries, traders, consumers and academia,” CP Food’s Chief Operating Officer of Aquaculture Business Sujint Thammasart said.
Fishmeal suppliers will also be trained in Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP+), a certification related to food safety and feed raw materials.
“In this year, the company provided training for critical suppliers,” said CP Foods in a release. “95 suppliers participated in training on human rights, labor practices, as well as preventive occupational health, safety and work environment culture.”
Since 2014, CP Foods has been focused on improving its supply chain, with an initial drive to rid its supply chain of all slave labor.
The company also created a plan to reduce reliance on fishmeal, and according to CP Foods the results have reduced the use of fishmeal to around five to 15 percent of the ingredients in its shrimp feed formula.
