global seafood supply chain Archives

Compelling Arguments for Transparency in the Global Seafood Supply Chain

Posted on April 10, 2020October 9, 2023 by rfxadmin

This is the last installment of our global seafood supply chain Transparency Trilogy. Thanks for reading!

If you read our first and second blogs about transparency in the global seafood supply chain, you probably feel that the seafood sector needs to change its tune. Sure, industry thought leaders are re-evaluating how they do business and have taken some initial steps to make transparency the norm — that’s what leaders do — but widespread change has yet to come.

The seafood supply chain remains opaque and complex. There are countless opportunities for products to be compromised as they change hands over and over again on their global journey “from catch to plate.” Fish populations continue to be depleted. Trading partners don’t always trust each other, and they certainly don’t always like to share their data (if they have any data at all). And people continue to be exploited and abused on land and sea.

Let’s look at a few of the most pressing problems facing the industry and how transparency can help solve them.

The specter of slavery

Yes, slavery.

In a 2014 blog post, Human Trafficking Search, an international organization that seeks to raise awareness and help prevent and eliminate human trafficking worldwide, wrote, “It is not a new revelation that slavery plagues the global food system.”

So, six years ago, slavery was “not a new revelation.” Alas, more recent headlines confirm the global seafood supply chain has not dealt with this problem:

- March 19, 2020: Who is FCF? Taiwan’s biggest tuna trader linked to forced labour & illegal fishing
- January 29, 2020: The Southeast Asian Fishing Industry and Modern Slavery
- September 21, 2019: “‘Such brutality’: tricked into slavery in the Thai fishing industry”
- June 6, 2019: “Blood and Water: Slavery in the Fishing Industry Revealed”
- May 29, 2019: “‘Slavery’ on the Seas: Forced Labor Widespread in Global Fishing Industry”

If ever there was an argument for change in the global seafood supply chain, this is it. Transparency will combat slavery by shining a light on who is doing the fishing, who is processing and transporting the seafood, etc. We’re all in.

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing

UII fishing includes fishing during off-season breeding periods, catching and selling unmanaged fish stocks, and selling fish caught by slaves. It threatens the stability of seafood ecosystems in every body of water where it occurs.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), IUU fishing “remains one of the greatest threats to marine ecosystems due to its potent ability to undermine national and regional efforts to manage fisheries sustainably as well as endeavors to conserve marine biodiversity.”

Furthermore, the FAO reports that IUU fishing accounts for as much as 26 million tons of seafood annually, valued between $10-23 billion. It capitalizes on corrupt governments and exploits weak management systems. In some countries, it has been linked to organized crime. It depletes resources, which can cause local fisheries to collapse. It threatens livelihoods, intensifies poverty, and increases food insecurity.

Transparency helps mitigate UII fishing because it enables buyers and wholesalers to guarantee the provenance of their product. It will help shrink markets for illegally sourced fish, as more trading partners — and consumers — will demand data that proves seafood is from a legal, regulated source and has been reported to the appropriate government agencies.

Food fraud

Food fraud is the illegal practice of substituting one food for another. It’s very dangerous, and it happens around the world, usually when the supply for a commodity fluctuates. To keep an in-demand product flowing to customers, fishermen and restaurateurs can feel pressure to commit seafood fraud, replacing one species for another.

Studies by Oceana, which works to protect and restore the Earth’s oceans, illustrate how pervasive food fraud is. For example, between March and August 2018:

- Twenty-one percent of 449 fish Oceana researchers tested were mislabeled.
- One-third of establishments sold mislabeled seafood.
- Mislabeling was found at 26 percent of restaurants, 24 percent of small markets, and 12 percent of larger chain grocery stores.
- Sea bass and snapper were mislabeled the most.

Transparency fights food fraud by holding all nodes of the seafood supply chain accountable for what they’re selling. Put simply, with transparency, there’s nowhere for unscrupulous actors to hide.

Consumer health and food safety

Without a transparent supply chain, it’s difficult to safeguard consumer health and food safety. Imagine what a widespread foodborne illness outbreak and consequent recalls would look like without supply chain transparency and traceability.

As with the problems we’ve discussed above, the seafood industry isn’t fully part of the solution for consumer health and food safety concerns. Food fraud (species substitution) continues to make people sick and cause death. Mishandled seafood continues to carry high histamine levels, posing health risks to millions of people.

People want to assume they are eating safe, authentic food. Transparency will not only give consumers peace of mind, it will go a long way to build — or rebuild — their sense of trust with the seafood industry. In every aspect, transparency is a win-win for everybody.

Final thoughts about transparency in the global seafood supply chain

To wrap up our transparency trilogy, we want the seafood industry to know that supply chain transparency is within reach and that it doesn’t have to be painful.

Forgive the pun, but the world is the industry’s oyster: Help is available all around you. Government and global initiatives such as the GDST want to work with you to become more sustainable, environmentally friendly, and ethical. Consumers are also ready to help; if you build transparency into your supply chain, they will come.

And rfxcel is with you too, here to answer your questions about achieving transparency in your supply chain. We want you to know you have three options that we call “Keep, Replace, Provide”:

- Keep your current system, but integrate it with new solutions.
- Replace outdated systems with less complicated solutions that, in the long run, do more for less money.
- Look to rfxcel to provide a new supply chain system that closes all the gaps and brings you to full transparency.

Take a look at our signature rfxcel Traceability System (rTS), the most complete and flexible raw materials and finished goods traceability solution for the industry. Check out our rfxcel MobileTraceability app, which can track any batch, movement, and handler at any location, putting the power of a digital supply chain at your fingertips. And our rfxcel Integrated Monitoring (rIM) solution lets supply chain actors see their products in real time and mine rich unit-level data about more than a dozen environmental conditions.

Learn more about these and our other solutions for F&B here and contact us to start a conversation about transparency in your supply chain.

How Transparency Benefits the Global Seafood Supply Chain

Posted on April 8, 2020May 22, 2023 by rfxadmin

This is Part 2 of our global seafood supply chain Transparency Trilogy. Check back on Friday for the last installment, as well as other food and beverage news!

In the first part of our trilogy, we talked about why the worldwide call for global seafood supply chain transparency has gotten louder and louder. Now we’re ready to talk about how transparency benefits the supply chain itself.

Spoiler alert: It just makes everything better!

Can a penny-pincher be proactive?

If asked, most seafood companies would probably say their intentions are good and they support a “do no harm” approach in their operations. They see themselves as guardians of a well-managed resource; indeed, they’d argue that it’s in their best interests to promote sustainability, legal fishing practices, environmental responsibility, and supply chain transparency. After all, if fish populations dwindle, they could be out of business.

Many companies have policies that require their buyers to verify (as much as possible) that the seafood they procure meets minimum standards for sustainability, safety, and quality. Such self-regulation is a good first step, but the reality is that enforcing these standards is tough. Very tough.

Lack of transparency in the supply chain is one reason for this. But given its overwhelming “pros,” why do seafood companies continue to view transparency as a cost rather than an investment? Sure, it takes money — sometimes a lot of money — to implement the systems, but there are compelling reasons for actors in the seafood industry to open their wallets and get on board with transparency in a digital supply chain.

The benefits of global seafood supply chain transparency: What stakeholders should know

From “catch to plate,” transparency benefits everybody in the seafood supply chain. Here’s how.

Suppliers. These are the processors and manufacturers. They benefit from transparency because it allows them to protect their business investments and comply with regulations. Suppliers can use transparency data to show their trading partners and consumers that they are doing things the right way, the responsible and sustainable way. Transparency also lets them control their supply chains more accurately and improves the quality of their product, also important selling points for partners and consumers.

Suppliers can also use transparency to build their brand reputations. For example, they can engage with consumers directly, using data to demonstrate that their products are sustainably sourced and legitimate, and that they are responsible corporate citizens. These are qualities that consumers will demand more, not less, as they have ever-expanding ways to verify what they’re buying and more options for where to spend their money.

Brands and distributors. Transparency lets brands and distributors know exactly what they’re purchasing, which will give them peace of mind about the origins, sustainability, and legitimacy of the products they offer. Furthermore, like suppliers, they can comply with regulations, such as the U.S. Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP). Brands and distributors can also use transparency to build their reputations and solidify their relationships with customers. Being able to prove the who, what, when, where, how, and why of their products is a powerful tool for branding and communications.

Retailers, food service groups/providers, and consumers. High-quality products with traceable provenance give retailers and food service companies better control over their supply chains and more ways (i.e., data) to protect their brands. Like suppliers, brands, and distributors, they’ll be able to entice customers and secure their loyalty.

At the very end of the supply chain, it’s consumers who stand to gain the most from transparency. They’ll know where their seafood comes from. They’ll know it’s safe, and they’ll feel good about being responsible shoppers. And as transparency really becomes the norm, they’ll be inclined to purchase only products that can prove provenance, and only from companies that can prove they are “doing the right thing” when it comes to the global seafood supply chain.

Final thoughts about global seafood supply chain transparency

rfxcel is part of the transparency solution. If you read our last blog about transparency in the global seafood supply chain, you’ve seen that our solutions optimize traceability, transparency, efficiency, and quality so supply chain stakeholders and consumers alike can reap the benefits.

For seafood and all other F&B supply chains, the latest version of our signature rfxcel Traceability System (rTS) is the most complete and flexible raw materials and finished goods traceability solution for the industry. Our rfxcel MobileTraceability app can track any batch, movement, and handler at any location, putting the power of a digital supply chain at your fingertips. And with our rfxcel Integrated Monitoring (rIM) solution, supply chain actors can see their products in real time and mine rich unit-level data about more than a dozen environmental conditions.

Learn more about these and our other solutions for F&B here.

READ THE LAST INSTALLMENT OF OUR SEAFOOD TRANSPARENCY TRILOGY

The Importance of Transparency in the Global Seafood Supply Chain

Posted on April 3, 2020May 22, 2023 by rfxadmin

This is the first of a global seafood supply chain Transparency Trilogy. Check back later this week for the second and third installments, as well as other food and beverage news!

The seafood you buy at your grocery store or eat at a restaurant made its way to you through one of the most fragmented food supply chains on the planet. The global seafood supply chain is like, if we may, an octopus: It’s many arms are spread out into international waters, are wrapped around waterways within nations’ borders, embrace millions of workers at all social strata, and move up and down through a notoriously opaque and difficult-to-manage supply chain.

For these and other reasons, most notably intense supply/demand and price pressure, the worldwide call for transparency in the global seafood supply chain has gotten louder and louder. From international environmental and conservation groups all the way to final consumers, the chorus is for better management, sustainability, and transparency.

rfxcel is committed to transparency in every supply chain — food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, and government. This is why we’re proud to have been invited to sign a letter of support for an initiative put forth by The Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST, or “the Dialogue”). Let’s talk about this and other important programs that want to bring transparency — and much more — to the global seafood supply chain.

The Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability

The GDST is “an international, business-to-business platform established to advance a unified framework for interoperable seafood traceability practices.” It brings together seafood stakeholders and civil society experts to develop interoperable industry standards. Its goals include improving the reliability of product information, reducing the cost of traceability, helping minimize risk in the supply chain, and facilitating long-term social and environmental sustainability.

rfxcel was invited to be a signatory to its GDST 1.0 Standards. Launched on March 16, 2020, these standards aim to harness the power of data to support traceability and methods to guarantee that seafood products are sourced legally.

GDST 1.0 has two objectives:

Harmonize the data standards so all supply chain actors can share data. To make interoperability possible, it calls for all nodes to create Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) events. (EPCIS is a GS1 standard that allows trading partners to share information about products as they pass through a supply chain.)
Define the key data elements that trading partners must capture and share to ensure the supply chain is free from illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and to collect relevant data for resource management.

The Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration

Tuna is a universally popular protein, found on both the shelves of your local supermarket and at fine restaurants serving high-end sashimi. By 2014, the sector was catching 5 million tons of commercial tuna species worth almost $40 billion. Not surprisingly, such intense demand has put a huge strain on the species and marine systems in general.

The Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration is dedicated to “stopping illegal tuna from coming to market.” Under the aegis of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which believes traceability and transparency is one of the best ways to ensure a sustainable commercial future for tuna fishing,

the Declaration establishes a set of actionable standards and brings together companies, traders, government bodies, and civil organizations. A non-legally binding declaration, it focuses on implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14, specifically Target 14.4, which is worth quoting in full:

By 2020, effectively regulate harvesting and end overfishing, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and destructive fishing practices and implement science-based management plans, in order to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible, at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield as determined by their biological characteristics

The Global Tuna Alliance

The Global Tuna Alliance is dedicated to improving the sustainability of the tuna sector. An independent group of retailers and tuna supply chain companies, it supports the Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration commitments to tuna traceability, socially responsible tuna supply chains, environmentally responsible tuna sources, and government partnerships. It supports developing harvest strategies for tuna fisheries, avoiding products yielded from IUU fishing, and progressing work on human rights in tuna fisheries.

rfxcel is part of the transparency solution in the global seafood supply chain

We’re excited to be part of the team working on the GDST 1.0 Standards. It’s our mission to optimize traceability, transparency, efficiency, and quality so supply chain stakeholders and consumers alike can reap the benefits. We are definitely part of the solution.

Learn more about these and our other solutions for F&B here.