MSC takes action following criticism
After having its credibility questioned last week, the Marine Stewardship Council on Monday announced that its board approved new actions to its procedures and methodologies.
The new developments include increased resources for and focus on training of certifiers, fishery assessment team members and peer reviews, a comprehensive review and consolidation of scheme documentation, and a creation of standardized pre-assessment tool.
“Our board’s top priority is to continue to improve our assessment program,” said MSC Chairman Will Martin. “We’re listening very closely to our partners, and we continue the work of developing and revising policies, procedures and systems to ensure the program keeps up with current thinking and best practice.”
Nearly 600 retailers join anti-GMO campaign
On the heels of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s preliminary approval of genetically modified salmon, nearly 600 retailers say they will take part in a new anti-GMO campaign.
The inaugural “National Non-GMO Month,” sponsored by the Non-GMO Project of Upland, Calif., will be held in October, which happens to coincide with National Seafood Month. Meanwhile, Alaska Senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska) this week called GM salmon “Frankenfish” and the FDA’s potential approval of AquaBounty Technologies’ GM salmon “risky and a threat to the survival of wild species.’
Around 580 natural and independent food stores, including Whole Foods Market, will draw consumers’ attention to the non-GMO products that they carry, as well as educate them about the GMO issue. According to the Non-GMO Project, studies show a correlation between the consumption of GMOs and health risks.
WWF: Don’t reject Barents Sea cod
The World Wildlife Fund expressed concern on Friday over the intentions of retailers in Germany, the United States and Canada to drop all Atlantic cod products because of sustainability questions.
While the environmental group admits some Atlantic cod fisheries have room for improvement, the group is urging retailers to not reject cod purchases from the Barents Sea, a fishery that is described by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) as harvested sustainably, and one that has obtained Marine Stewardship Council certification for sound management. WWF claims that dropping Barents Sea contradicts retails’ commitments to sell sustainable seafood.
“Science confirms that Barents Sea cod is being harvested sustainably, therefore it’s excessively heavy-handed and unnecessary to de-list this fishery from supermarket shelves,” said Alfred Schumm, leader of WWF’s Smart Fishing Initiative. “The MSC certified Barents Sea cod is undoubtedly one of the best options at the fish counter.”
Whole Foods to stop selling over-fished seafood
Whole Foods Market Inc. is phasing out seafood considered over-fished or unsustainably-caught.
Austin-based Whole Foods (Nasdaq: WFMI) operates a store in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood and plans to open its second in the region in the North Hills in 2011. The new seafood strategy is part of the grocer’s efforts to better inform customers about fish and shellfish sources. In partnership with the Blue Ocean Institute and Monterey Bay Aquarium, the company has adopted an in-store, color-coded sustainability rating system for wild-caught seafood. Whole Foods has also committed to phasing out all red-rated species by Earth Day 2013, including swordfish, Atlantic cod, sole and tuna, among others.
Seafood color-coded green, or “best choice,” indicates the fish is part of an abundant population and is fished in an environmentally-friendly way. A yellow-coded offering means a “good alternative,” or having some concerns about population or fishing methods. The red, “avoid” category signals the species is suffering from overfishing, or that current fishing methods harm other marine life or habitats.
Read more: Whole Foods to stop selling over-fished seafood – Pittsburgh Business Times
Consumer information campaign about sustainable seafood
The age-old dating wisdom that “there are plenty of fish in the sea” is not true when it comes to the scaly and shell-covered creatures swimming in our oceans.
Concerns over depleting our wild fish supply are part of a broader campaign called the sustainable seafood movement, which encourages consumers to be more aware about where their shrimp scampi and spicy tuna rolls come from and the environmental cost required to reach the dinner table.
“Sustainable” is one of those foodie adjectives that rolls off so many tongues these days its meaning may get muddled. But, in general, it means producing food in a way that is not destructive to our planet, and is economically and socially just.
Marine Harvest reports sustainability progress
he infectious salmon anemia (ISA) outbreak that has crippled Chile’s salmon-farming industry since mid-2007 is “stabilizing,” Marine Harvest said in its 2009 sustainability report, released on Friday.
The world’s largest farmed salmon producer attributed the effort to get ISA under control to a reduction in stocking density, implementation of strict sanitary measures and procedures, coordinated zone production and fallowing, improved husbandry and management, heightened surveillance and vaccination.
Salmon still most popular in France
almon remains the most popular fish for French consumers, with smoked salmon swimming ahead of fresh and frozen product.
While 46 percent of French households buy fresh salmon and 25 percent buy frozen salmon, an impressive 72 percent will pluck smoked salmon from store shelves, according to recent figures from market trackers Kantar Worldpanel.
“Salmon is the No. 1 fish eaten by the French, ahead of cod [No. 2] and coley [No. 3],” said the firm.
In 2008, the European Union imported 600,000 metric tons of salmon valued at EUR 2.2 billion, with 75 percent hailing from Norway. The French consumed about 165,000 metric tons of salmon. Last year, shoppers paid on average EUR 22.41 per kilogram for smoked salmon, EUR 11.60 for fresh salmon and EUR 13.80 for frozen.
Hawaiian supplier to use Trace Register
Global food traceability company Trace Register on Friday announced that it signed a deal with Norpac Fisheries Export to use the Trace Register system to verify the vessel and origin of several western Pacific species.
Honolulu-based Norpac will use the system to track bigeye tuna, opah, monchong and other species sold under it Hawaiian Select line.
Surveys Industry’s Traceability Readiness
The top concern regarding implementation of the PTI is cost. Costs cited by respondents include hardware and software expenses, logistics and obtaining a company prefix – both implementation and maintenance costs. Going hand-in-hand with costs, is return on the investment. Other areas of concern are:
Accuracy of information
Lack of clear commitment/acceptance across the supply chain
Insufficient communications
Duplication by PTI of respondents’ existing traceback systems
Lack of ease of implementation
Pending governmental legislation
Insufficient resources or time
Questioning the necessity of the PTI and its recommendations
Special demands/requests above what PTI is recommending
Traceability: Is One Standard the Cure?
“What the traceability industry needs right now is a single traceability standard”.
This underlying theme was echoed in a number of presentations from several speakers at the recent Traceability Inter-Operability conference hosted by the Traceability Institute in Denver a few weeks ago. The main barrier to widespread traceability adoption by the food industry, these presentations argued, was the lack of a single traceability standard which could exchange traceability data seamlessly from one company to another throughout all their trading partners in a supply chain.
Unfortunately, each speaker was talking only about the traceability standard that their company commercially offers, and their implicit message was “If only everyone would speak my language, all companies in the food supply chain would be able to communicate and this industry would begin to rapidly grow.” In other words, the presenters wanted all of the other solution providers in the audience to abandon their traceability solution and jump on the presenter’s bandwagon–”my way or the highway”
New ISO RFID standard will help trace products in the supply chain
For reasons of safety and reliability, the importance of being able to trace products throughout the supply chain has strongly increased in recent years. The new ISO 17367:2009 standard will help manufacturers and distributors to track products and to manage their traceability thanks to standardized RF tags.
Traceability is defined as the tracking and tracing of product and information related to it at each stage of a chain of production, processing, distribution, and selling. The development of radio frequency identification (RFID), including peripheral devices and their applications, is indispensable for increasing the safety and reliability of products for consumers.
UK introduces voluntary COOL code for pork
A new country of origin labelling (COOL) code of practice for pork introduced in the UK yesterday will benefit meat processors, producers and consumers, said one industry body.
The voluntary code aims to give clear information about country of origin on packs of pork, bacon and ham. It was drawn up by the Pig Meat Supply Chain Task Force – a group representing processors, pig producers, retailers and the food service sector.
Walmart Announces Goal to Eliminate 20 Million Metric Tons of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Global Supply Chain
Walmart today announced a goal to eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its global supply chain by the end of 2015. This represents one and a half times the company’s estimated global carbon footprint growth over the next five years and is the equivalent of taking more than 3.8 million cars off the road for a year.
“Energy efficiency and carbon reduction are central issues in the world today,” said Mike Duke, Walmart president and CEO. “We’ve been working to make a difference in these areas, both in our own footprint and our supply chain. We know that we have an opportunity to do more and the capacity to do more.”
Traceability technology for fresh produce improves by leaps and bounds
echnology evolves by leaps and bounds each year, and for companies competing for business in the crowded field of food traceability, it’s no different.
Last year saw start-ups, new programs and better software as the produce industry poured more focus and money into meeting the Produce Traceability Initiative’s voluntary milestones. The goal of the PTI, led by the major produce trade groups Produce Marketing Association, United Fresh, and the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, is for full supply chain traceability from farm to retail stores by 2012.
Companies like RedLine Solutions Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., worked on software and hardware through traceability pilot programs in places like Salinas, Calif., while other companies such as KPG Solutions Inc., Longwood, Fla., and YottaMark, Redwood City, Calif., announced plans for or started new traceback platforms for consumers.
Fresh ideas for a green future
Our future may depend on the ingenuity of our entrepreneurs. A changing climate could fundamentally transform Ireland and the rest of the world. We’ll need to use our own resources – food and agriculture businesses will be vital for the survival of both individual communities and the nation as a whole.
The Green Dragon team innovation challenge, a new initiative from Agri-Aware, is gently laying the first seeds for the emerging green revolution. The competition challenges both Junior (first to third year) and Senior (Transition to sixth year) students to develop a business idea into a useful and potentially profitable product or service.
Benefits Of Real-Time Traceability, Cradle-To-Grave
Manufacturing companies are increasingly under more pressure to be compliant. Whether mandated by the government, customers, third-party auditors or quality standards such as ISO, companies must prove their ability to track and trace inventory, goods and other items in order to remain compliant and competitive in the local and global marketplace.
At a Bioterrorism Compliance Seminar held several years ago in Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Southwest Regional Director Dennis Baker challenged the audience to consider a scenario: Should forward- and back-lot tracking compliance be done manually on paper, or should the FDA require this tracking to be computerized? While Baker said the FDA considered making automating lot tracking mandatory, the agency ultimately decided against it because competition was already successfully making that demand.
IF We had an Undersecretary of Food Safety…
IF there was an undersecretary for food safety this is what they should be doing…
1. Tattoo on a body part that you use every day the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) Mission Statement:
The Food Safety and Inspection Service is the public health agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture responsible for ensuring that the nation’s commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged.
2. Push for tax credits for workable food safety innovations for small, medium, and large producers and support small and medium-sized agriculture by growing local and regional markets for meat.
…
11. Make better use of technology to ensure traceability of all food so that when an outbreak occurs authorities can quickly identify the source and limit the spread of the contamination and stop the disruption to the economy.
Will RFID tags be the traceability solution after all?
Did you happen to see reference to the traceability study in Europe that used RFID tags to track produce? The Financial Times from Jan. 26 covered the issue.
The crux of the FT coverage looked at the possibility that RFID, disappointing so far in their transformational effect on the supply chain, will have better effect in the future supply chain. The concept of “shared supply chains” will take on more weight, as shared logistic increase transportation efficiency and somehow minimize the carbon footprint, said sources quoted in the story..
For fresh produce, the story refers to the Vers Schakel project, which looked at the benefits of using RFID tags on lettuce containers to track the produce through the supply chain.
Canada – Leaping ahead of USA in traceability
he Traceability Cattle Identification Regulation repeals the Traceability Livestock Identification Regulation.
“Traceability is key in providing assurances of food safety and managing animal health issues,” said George Groeneveld, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“Alberta has taken a leadership role in Canada in developing a traceability system. These adjustments not only enhance Alberta’s system, but also provide some flexibility to producers in meeting requirements.”
There are two parts to the new regulations: tagging requirements for cattle identification and cattle move-in reporting for feedlots.
Food Safety iPhone Apps: HarvestMark
You probably already use your iPhone to get directions, play music, or look up movie times, but did you know you could use it to track your food from farm to fork?
iPhone applications have quite a bit to offer on the food front. If you’re in St. Louis and you must know where the closest Filipino restaurant is, iWant, Urban Spoon, or Yelp applications can help you in a jiffy. You can also use iPhone apps to find an open table at a nearby restaurant, track calories and ingredients, or calculate your tip.