Seafood Traceability Archives - Page 2 of 4

Norwegian Seafood Council rep: Industry must “raise voice” about plant-based imitation seafood products

April 8, 2019 — There is a growing appetite among younger consumers, particularly millennials, for food and seafood that has an authentic story to tell, according to the Norwegian Seafood Council (NSC), which has been working directly with American consumers in recent years – through various focus groups – to understand what drives and deters modern seafood purchasing.

With the primary aim of helping Norwegian fisheries and the country’s aquaculture industry to develop new markets, NSC has been keeping a pulse on the consumption trends dominating in the United States, and has found that when it comes to seafood and other proteins, a good origin story can go a long way.

“Origin matters for the end-consumers,” Egil Ove Sundheim, the U.S. director of NSC, explained to SeafoodSource.

This seems especially so for millennials, the generation responsible for overhauling the ways in which food and mealtimes are experienced, and the demographic set to acquire the majority of purchasing power within the next decade, Sundheim said.

“In five, seven, 10 years, [millennials] will be the most important purchasers of food, as they start to build families,” he said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Legit Fish to Launch Technology That Traces Origin of Seafood

March 16, 2019 — The following was released by Legit Fish:

Legit Fish, provider of a first-of-its-kind seafood traceability technology, is launching its application this weekend that allows an unprecedented level of transparency for consumers while ensuring a seafood’s origin actually matches its packaging. Legit Fish will unveil its new tool at the Seafood Expo North America in Boston on Sunday, March 17th, 2019 at booth 289.

“Increasing stories around seafood fraud are eroding consumer trust; we’re seeing repetitive cases where seafood is claimed to be from local waters when it is in fact imported,” said Michael Carroll, CEO of Legit Fish. “The technology we are bringing to the market changes all of that because our traceability system is verified with the official government harvest records. No one else is doing this.”

Legit Fish is already partnering with the BASE Auction Company, helping it launch the most technologically advanced logistics and auction system in the world with its Groundfish and Sea Scallop business. The system enables vessels to hail quantities into the auction that can be sold via a real-time cloud-based platform, with transactions clearing simultaneously in milliseconds. BASE runs its auctions in two of the most treasured fishing ports in the United States; New Bedford, MA, the most economically significant, and in Gloucester, MA, the country’s oldest.

The traceability software of Legit Fish (www.legitfishinc.com) is able to track seafood from the dock to the dinner table, offering confidence for buyers and leveling the playing field for vessel owners, assuring them that when their product travels down the supply chain, it can’t be substituted with inferior product, and with that, a lower price. Legit Fish does this through a cloud-based software that provides a binding chain of custody control that ensures the product featured meets the claim on the package.

The traceability technology comes at a time when the industry is coming under fire about its truthfulness in packaging. Just last week, the conservation group Oceana put out a report that found 1 in every 3 businesses sold at least one kind of seafood that wasn’t labeled properly, with Snapper (42%) and Sea Bass (55%) having the highest samples that were fraudulent. And a recent investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office found “more than one in four” seafood purchases were mislabeled and “about two-thirds” of the supermarket chains reviewed had at least one instance of mislabeling.

“This type of rigorous trace application will offer domestic fisheries a tool to ensure their products are not being knocked off in the marketplace by imported or even farmed goods,” says Carroll. “Currently there is no other scalable traceability tool that concretely verifies seafood products against the government harvest records.”

When fully implemented, the data offered by Legit Fish can be accessed by seafood retailers, processors, dealers and consumers with the scan of a QR code that provides not only the port where the fish originated, but its species, location, landing dates, and the vessel it came off of.

With this in mind, Legit Fish is attracting interest from discerning retailers who want better assurance and controls over the origin of their products; Legit Fish has already forged a number of partnerships in the industry and is currently rolling out its technology with a retailer.

“We will change the way the seafood industry does business,” said Carroll. “The Legit Fish technology will substantially increase transparency that will benefit both the fisherman and the consumer.”

For more information, please contact:

Michael Carroll

Legit Fish

617-640-8126 (cell)

mike@legitfishinc.com

Special events featured throughout Seafood Expo North America 2019

March 12, 2019 — Thousands of seafood buyers, importers, distributors, and processors are expected to arrive in Boston, Massachusetts this weekend for the kick-off of Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America 2019, taking place from 17 to 19 March.

Considered to be the largest seafood industry event in North America, the expo features thousands of exhibitor booths stocked with products, solutions, and samples, as well as a wide array of live chef demonstrations, sponsored presentations, and other special events open to all attendees.

Topical presentations will begin on Sunday, 17 March, when keynote speaker Dr. Lindsey Piegza, the chief economist at Stifel Fixed Income, will offer an economic update to attendees covering the current pace of recovery in the United States and what it means for future growth, interest rates, and monetary policy. Piegza will also touch on macro-economic consumer behavior trends and the potential economic effects of new Federal Reserve policy initiatives.

A series of free sponsored presentations will take place on Monday (18 March) and Tuesday (19 March) in the morning. According to expo and conference organizer Diversified Communications, on Monday beginning at 9:15 a.m., attendees will be able to choose from two presentations: one on traceability standards, sponsored by the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability, and a second on utilizing ROVs for sustainable aquaculture, sponsored by Deep Trekker. The sponsored series will conclude on Tuesday with another sustainability-focused session, “Ocean Plastic Pollution: From the Garbage Patch to your Plate,” sponsored by Thai Union and running from 8:45 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Sea To Table defends actions but ex-employees raise concerns

July 26, 2018 –A national seafood distributor is defending its reputation amid plummeting sales after the Associated Press found it was not living up to a guarantee that all catch was local, wild, sustainable and traceable.

Sea To Table owner Sean Dimin said most problems identified by the AP were honest mistakes or the result of miscommunication, and some supporters came to his defense. But four former employees said they raised concerns about mislabeling, the blending of imports and deceptive marketing practices years ago, and were ignored or silenced.

In a global seafood industry that is notoriously corrupt, conscientious consumers are increasingly paying top dollar for seafood they can feel good about. The New York-based company attracted clients such as celebrity chef Rick Bayless, meal kit maker HelloFresh, restaurants and universities, promising all fish could be traced to a U.S. dock and sometimes the fisherman who caught it.

Among other things, the AP found Sea To Table was sometimes working with wholesalers that also rely on imports, providing incorrect dock and boat names, selling farmed shellfish, and offering species that were out of season or illegal to catch. The AP also tracked businesses in Sea To Table’s supply chain to labor abuses involving migrant fishermen in foreign waters and destruction of marine life.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Spokesman-Review

Chinese Supermarkets Update Their Salmon Labels to Show Country of Origin

June 28, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Last week one influential Cantonese newspaper, Yangcheng Evening News, reported that some local supermarkets had written that salmon products’ places of origin were the supermarkets themselves — not the foreign country or domestic region — on product labels in the stores. Such labels provide little help to consumers when they try to distinguish imported salmon from the domestic ones. One local consumer complained to the Guangdong Administration of Ocean and Fisheries about the labels through the bureau’s hotline. In response to the complaint, the bureau head, Wang, said that eating domestic freshwater salmon makes it easy for consumers to be infected with parasites. Furthermore, local sellers should provide clear information about salmon products’ places of origin, so consumers have a better understanding of what they are buying, he said.

This report caught great public attention. After its publication, Aeon has updated the salmon labels of its 21 supermarkets in Guangdong to provide more detailed information. For example, one Aeon supermarket in Tianhe district of Guangzhou has added in the “ingredient” section of the product label that the salmon products are from the Faroe Islands, though it still has words that say that the supermarket is the place of origin. According to its manager, this supermarket got these salmon from foreign suppliers, filleted and then packed them in the store. And in accordance with relevant regulations, it had to tell consumers that the place of origin was that supermarket. But now it has also provided extra information in the ingredient sections to let consumers know exactly whether the salmon are from foreign countries like the Faroe Islands or Norway.

In the retail store ParknShop, instant salmon food products have labels that show that they are from Norway, while the cooked products are said to come from Chile. In Grandbuy supermarkets, frozen salmon have labels that read that they are Atlantic salmon. Wang has emphasized the importance of telling consumers exactly where their salmon are from on labels. He also added that different departments should work together to ensure that this becomes an unspoken rule among salmon sellers, though it is not a written regulation yet.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Legit Fish is Adding Validity to a Peculiar Part of the Seafood Industry

March 14, 2018 — Certain entrepreneurs have an interest in a particular topic or industry that serves as an underlying theme to their career.

Taking a look at the career of Legit Fish Founder and CEO Michael Carroll, you will see he has been involved with the seafood industry for nearly 30 years. Carroll has worked as a commercial fisherman, in various marketing roles selling cod and haddock to grocery stores, and as a business consultant for seafood-companies.

And now, he is the founder of a seafood-focused tech startup in a city both catered to tech and seafood.

Legit Fish provides an administrative and tracking platform for seafood offloaders and independent fisherman to certify and market their fish as local. The software application replaces the current paper and Excel logistics systems with a cohesive cloud-based system that offers a scalable and unmatched level of traceability in the seafood industry.

The seafood offloader simply inputs the vessel, species, sizes, and relevant harvest information which is automatically transmitted to federal harvest records, inventory, sales, accounting etc. substantially reducing labor and transaction efficiencies. The application verifies the accuracy of the product information against the official government harvest record through proprietary API access and approves the printing of labels.

“Our software is built for traceability and logistics. If you lie on a federal harvest record, there are consequences, therefore we ground our product origin claims on this record. It’s up to us to make sure that the seafood distributors are honest, while still trying to be a business solution,” Carroll said. “With our current business partners, we can authenticate landings in Boston, New Bedford and Gloucester which represents an estimated 70% of the New England Groundfish Fishery and 30% of Atlantic Sea Scallops Fishery.”

Read the full story at VentureFizz

Albertsons adds seafood traceability monitoring

March 8, 2018 — Albertsons Companies, which operates more than 2,300 grocery stores in the United States, has selected Trace Register to trace its seafood products.

Trace Register’s TR+ Analytics with CMCA (continuous monitoring continuous auditing) will enable Albertsons Companies to meet sustainability specifications in the seafood supply chain on every shipment, according to Albertsons.

“Trace Register’s leading-edge monitoring and analytics will help track the movement of our products from the oceans or farm all the way to our U.S. distribution centers so we can verify that our requirements for sustainable, responsible sourcing are met,” said Anthony Snow, director of seafood for Albertsons Companies.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New Bedford Auction Owners Sign with Legit Fish – A Traceability Company, To improve Transparancy

March 9, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Legit Fish, a provider of advanced seafood logistics and traceability technology, today announced a deal with BASE New England who operates the largest seafood auction in New England and is based in New Bedford and Gloucester MA.

Legit Fish Inc. developed and is implementing this first of its kind, end to end logistics and traceability solution with Atlantic Coast Seafood Inc. (Boston MA).

This innovative cloud-based software application provides the domestic seafood industry with operational efficiencies as well as new cutting-edge marketing tools, linking off-loading, government reporting, inventory management, sales, accounting and an industry leading traceability system. The traceability application utilizes a patient pending system which offers the retail trade an unmatched level of traceability based on verification against the official government harvest records.

The application runs on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform. This technology solution provides auction participants with the ability to use their mobile devices to purchase seafood products on the Auction platform and allow vessels to transmit hail information direct into the software via a multi language voice response app.

These advancements for BASE New England will allow them to clearly monitor “on the water” hail information as well as product sales compared to dealer reported federal records.

These third-party compliance tools have positive implications for BASE New England and the port of New Bedford in their effort to reopen the New England Groundfish Fishery Sector IX.

The owners of BASE have been very vocal in demanding resumption of fishing by Sector IX vessels because much of the catch of these vessels flows through the New Bedford Auction. During the time when Carlos Rafael was the leading groundfish operator in New Bedford, he was also the biggest supplier of fish through the auction.

Legit Fish Inc. will be attending the 2018 Boston Seafood Show and will be available for both product demos and detailed explanations of this new innovative technology.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Legit Fish rolls out the first cloud-based traceability technology for Massachusetts scallop and groundfish

March 8, 2018 — The following was released by Legit Fish:

Legit Fish (www.legitfishinc.com), a provider of advanced seafood logistics and traceability technology, today announced a deal with BASE New England who operates the largest seafood auction in New England and is based in New Bedford and Gloucester MA.

Legit Fish Inc. developed and is implementing this first of its kind, end to end logistics and traceability solution with Atlantic Coast Seafood Inc. (Boston MA). This innovative cloud-based software application provides the domestic seafood industry with operational efficiencies as well as new cutting-edge marketing tools, linking off-loading, government reporting, inventory management, sales, accounting and an industry leading traceability system. The traceability application utilizes a patient pending system which offers the retail trade an unmatched level of traceability based on verification against the official government harvest records.

On March 8^th 2018, Legit Fish Inc. signed a contract to further develop this system with BASE New England. In addition to the software application developed in Boston, Legit Fish Inc. will be expanding this system by creating a custom Auction application which will offer a high level of versatility and functionality. The application runs on the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform. This technology solution provides auction participants with the ability to use their mobile devices to purchase seafood products on the Auction platform and allow vessels to transmit hail information direct into the software via a multi language voice response app. These advancements for BASE New England will allow them to clearly monitor “on the water” hail information as well as product sales compared to dealer reported federal records. These third-party compliance tools have positive implications for BASE New England and the port of New Bedford in their effort to reopen the New England Groundfish Fishery Sector IX. Considering NOAA’s requirement for increased accountability measures to the operations plan of Sector IX, this revolutionary app provides a substantial technological improvement for the fishery and the sector.

Legit Fish Inc. will be attending the 2018 Boston Seafood Show and will be available for both product demos and detailed explanations of this new innovative technology.

About Legit Fish Inc.
Legit Fish Inc. provides Seafood off-loaders a complete cost-efficient ERP solution. Our innovative cloud-based application can be integrated with various other systems and provides an industry leading traceability system that is verified to the official government harvest records. This new system offers supply chain participants and retailers complete confidence in the origin of their products as well as a new innovative solution to market products. Further information can be found at www.legitfishinc.com.

New partnership to tackle seafood traceability

November 20, 2017 — A new effort funded by the U.S. government and several philanthropic foundations aims to improve seafood traceability by launching a knowledge-sharing network.

The Seafood Alliance for Legality and Traceability (SALT) will promote legal and sustainable fisheries by improving supply chain transparency and traceability. The partnership will bring together seafood industry representatives, nongovernmental organizations, and governments to collaborate on ways to combat illegal seafood and share best practices.

The exact activities of the partnership will be decided in the coming year with input from seafood companies and other interested parties.

“SALT will catalyze solutions that transform how the seafood industry and governments collect, share, verify, and ultimately utilize data in the pursuit of sustainable fisheries,” Tobias Aguirre, CEO of FishWise, told SeafoodSource.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com