Traceability in Retail

According to a recent FranceAgrimer study on consumer trends, French consumers want to consume less but better, and are turning to quality products, more transparent and more sustainable. The emergence of sustainable consumption and the development of do-it-yourself with bulk purchases (editor's note: Major brands and bulk) are evidence of these changes. Consumers now demand more transparency on the origin of their purchases and want easy access to all traceability information. And seafood products are no exception to this trend. On the contrary.

From the boat to the plate, at the distributors’ level, traceability errors have been identified.

40% of all seafood products (fish, shellfish, seafood) are mislabeled in supermarkets, markets, fish shops and restaurants (Source: The Guardian, 2021)!

Diagram illustrating the seafood supply chain by Vericatch

Indeed, labeling errors are common and generally concern fresh products and certain species of fish. For example:

• Bigeye tuna or yellowfin tuna sold as bluefin tuna,
• Cod instead of haddock, etc.

Some species may be misspelled on the labels, causing doubt.

What are the problems faced by professionals to ensure complete traceability of seafood products in their stores?

The challenge of traceability is to collect and follow all the data and information related to the origins of seafood products, the different stages of processing and delivery to the shelves of fish shops or supermarkets.

This information must be collected upstream from the first link in the chain, visible and accessible at any time by all the other links, up to the final consumer.

Upstream, the date of catch and the place of catch are not always sufficiently popularized to allow the understanding of this information:

• the date of catch: separating the batches by day of catch is complex, especially for coastal fishing vessels. The means on board do not allow this. To solve this problem, the mention "date of catch" has been extended to the "period of catch", which means that all the catches of the same trip can now be labeled together.

• le lieu précis de capture : les navires de pêche côtière peuvent pêcher dans 2, voire 3, sous-zones de pêche différentes. Savez-vous à quelle sous-zone correspond la "VIIId" ou la "IV" ? Ces informations doivent être simplifiées pour une meilleure compréhension de la part des professionnels et des consommateurs. L'affichage d'un poster des zones et sous-zones de pêche au sein du rayon marée permet aux consommateurs de se repérer et ainsi orienter ses achats.  

For wholesalers and fishmongers, traceability and information exchange can be complex due to

• Sorting and creating batches according to the demand of the next link (supermarket chains, fish shops, restaurants). It is necessary to structure, centralize, store and transfer all the information for each batch: the identification number of the vessels that contributed to the batch, the fishing period and the origin of each product, etc.

• The (commercial) labeling done at the time of the order (before the reception of the freshly landed product), without knowing all the obligatory information concerning the product (date of catch, fishing subarea, etc.).

• Obsolete tools that do not allow for the exchange of data and interconnection with the other players in the sector, including the next link, represented by the supermarkets, fish shops and restaurants.

For distributors,

• the unavailability of information, for example on fishing areas, quotas, sustainability, etc. does not allow to meet and satisfy the consumers' expectations at 100%.

• the complexity of the information on the label, especially the scientific name. This display obligation may seem inappropriate, yet it ensures the correct designation of the species.

68% of fresh seafood products are purchased in supermarkets in France (Source: FranceAgrimer, 2019)

What traceability data should be displayed in the seafood section (fish shops, supermarkets, etc.)?

Must appear on the label and be accessible to consumers:

• The trade name,
• The scientific name,
• The method of production, "...caught..." or "...freshwater caught" or "...farmed...". In case of mixing of products of the same species and different production methods, the production method of each batch must be indicated.
• The catch area and fishing sub-area. For species fished in the Northeast Atlantic (FAO 27), Mediterranean (FAO 37), the name or code of the sub-area must be indicated. For the rest of the world, only the name of the area is necessary. For fish caught in fresh water, the name of the water (river, lake, etc.) and the country where the product was caught must be indicated
• The country of production, for aquaculture species
• The fishing gear,
• The mention "thawed",
• The expiration date of consumption. For all live bivalve molluscs such as scallops, the mention "best before..." can be replaced by the mention "These animals must be alive at the time of purchase"..
• Allergens.

And for prepackaged products:

• The list of ingredients,,
• The quantity of ingredients,,
• The net quantity (net weight),,
• The conditions of conservation and use,,
• The nutritional declaration (as of December 13, 2016),,
• etc.