TraceFish- project  initiated by EU coordinated by Fiskeriforskning (Nofima): the task of the project is to develop standards about what kinds of information should follow products of farmed and wild-caught fish, respectively, and how these data should be coded and transferred electronically.

As per this project, it is mandatory for a fish farm to keep records of supplier and identity of raw materials, assigning a unique ID, and making records of which product go to which customer. Only identifiers of raw materials and finished product are sent to next level in the supply chain.

According to latest reports, ISO committee is commencing project to develop standards for “Traceability of captured Fish and Farmed Fish”, final version of which will be delivered by 2011.

Recently there is one article in the Oct 16th edition of Time magazine on Sustainable Sushi.

The article mentioned that if we don’t have sustainable system to harvest the fish, by 2048, most of the global commercial fishery industry will collapse.

To promote sustainable fishing, there are some institutes in US that are publishing pocket guide for what to eat and what not to eat when ordering sushi by rating the seafood based on:  

1. Population of that particular species in the wild

2. The impact of the demand to the fish-farming operation

3. Best fishing practice

Interestingly, if we look at the guide, Farmed Salmon and Yellowtail Kingfish are not recommended, because these fish are considered to be caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment.

You can download the Sustainable Sushi Guide here:

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_SushiGuide.pdf

Here is the link for the Time magazine article:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1851114,00.html

The website for Sustainable Sushi Guide:

http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_sushi.aspx

There is some interesting work being done by biotech firm Senomyx (http://www.senomyx.com)  in the US on altering the taste of food. Their work focuses on identifying compounds that enhance a food’s activation of one of the five tastes (sweet, bitter, salty sour and savoury).  

They have developed a “taste testing” process which involves genetically modifying kidney cells with genes from the surface of the human tongue (mapped as part of the human genome sequence). This allows them to rapidly test how various compounds (“flavour enhancers”),  trigger each of the five taste receptors. They say they can screen around  80,00 candidate enhancers every month. More is available at http://www.senomyx.com/technology/

The difference between these flavour enhancers and artificial sweeteners is that they are tasteless on their own, but when they are paired with natural or artificial sweeteners they can turn the potency up or down.  They can also be applied in quantities of 1 part per million rather than 200-500 parts per million. The process is not without its doubters though - http://www.naturalnews.com/022982.html

It has already lead to the development of a number of flavour enhancers which are being used commercially. Nestle is already using some of the enhancers in a number of its products (http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Financial-Industry/Nestle-markets-first-Senomyx-savory-food-products) and Solae ( a health food company), is financing the development of “bitter blockers” to mask the aftertaste of soy.

Can this technology be applied to fish and aquaculture ?

Could this make fish species that are currently not farmed, more suitable to aquaculture ? (it might be certain species that are high yielding and able to be grown in more temperate climates are currently excluded from aquaculture because they don’t taste particularly nice)

Let me be very clear - sustainability is an imperative feature for the future of seafood (aquaculture and wild catch). However, the future is about more than just sustainability, its about corporate responsibility.

What do I mean by corporate responsiblity? Check out the corporate responsibility reports of all the world’s leading retailers and food manufacturers and you’ll find slightly different definitions and practices (its well worth doing this, you’ll have your eyes opened).

The basics are pretty much the same though, its about trying to minimise your negative actions and maximise your positive actions. Create a positive impact from your business activities.

Examples of corporate responsibility might include product positioning, environmental impact of business activities, integrity of sourcing practices, impact on local communities etc.

Will this help your business? From my experiences working in the UK with Young’s Seafood and Sainsbury’s, and contact I have had with Wholefoods in the US. The answer is YES YES YES. See these examples:

• Youngs Seafood
• Sainsbury
• Wholefoods
• Marine Harvest

To capitalise on the market opportunity you have to give the customer what the consumer wants. Corporate responsibilty can give you a point of difference as you develop your aquaculture business.

Can anyone share any other examples of exemplary corporate responsibility amongst producers / suppliers or retailers inside or outside the seafood industry?