SEAFOOD.COM NEWS — April 29, 2014 — The Louisiana Department of Fish and Wildlife (LDFW) has adopted recent changes to the Louisiana Wild Seafood Certification Standard Program (LWSCP) intended to increase consumer confidence that products with the LWSCP logo are only wild-caught Louisiana seafood items.
The rule changed were adopted on April 20 and require additional clarifications of certain language for general marketing purposes; adjust production registration and supply chain verification and changes application requirements for retailers and restaurants .
For general marketing purposes, the rule changes defined approved statements that can be used with LWSCP Logo for general marketing. Approved statements include "ask us about our certified products,” or “ask us about our certified menu items.” Additional statements may be granted approval by LDWF on a case by case basis upon written request.
As for production registration All seafood or seafood products packaged for retail sale are now required to be registered with LDWF before utilizing the LWSCP logo. Products produced, packaged, and sold exclusively at the location for retail sale are exempt from these registration requirements. The brand owner is responsible for obtaining a product registration, which is valid for 1 year and expires 12 months from the issue date. Product registration requires the following information: brand name, brand owner, processor/packer, species contained in the product, photo or image of package containing brand and name, and three months of invoices showing LWSCP certified seafood purchased specific to the product. Invoices may be submitted by the packager if the brand owner does not directly purchase seafood used in the product.
Finally, LDWF now requires supply chain verification for all retail/restaurants selling and/or serving un-packed seafood, prepared or un-prepared. For the initial applications, each retail/restaurant wanting to participate in LWSCP must provide three months of invoices showing LWSCP certified product purchases. Applications up for annual renewal will require invoices for six months out of the last 12 months showing purchases of LWSCP certified seafood.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.