Aquaculture Certification - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 114

The ISO 14001 standard is a generic standard for environmental management
systems that is not specifically aimed at aquaculture. It initially requires a compre-
hensive environmental risk assessment and then the development of an environ-
mental management plan specific to each applicant. The SQF 1000 and SQF 2000
standards of the Safe Quality Food Institute are unlike the other schemes because
they are primarily directed towards food safety and effective product traceabil-
ity. The Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) programme of the GAA, for which the
Aquaculture Certification Council (ACC) is the auditing body, aims for a compre-
hensive treatment of environmental, social, food safety and traceability issues. It
includes standards that are specifically drafted to address the problems associated
with each aquaculture species. This leads to a simpler, more targeted approach than
the generic ISO approach because it does not require farmers to perform their own
risk assessments. Instead, farmers are led through an analysis of the key risks by
following the format of the standard and its guidelines. A more detailed account
of the BAP programme and the workings of the GAA and the ACC is provided
below.
Another certification scheme that also aims at comprehensive treatment of all
issues and worldwide coverage is the GLOBALGAP Integrated Aquaculture Assur-
ance Standard (see Chapter 6). However, unlike the GAA, GLOBALGAP does not
have an ecolabel for use at the consumer level and it does not specialise in aquacul-
ture alone, but also produces standards for fruit, vegetables and livestock. GLOB-
ALGAP aims to promote sustainable farming and aquaculture practices worldwide
by providing a business-to-business service linking producers and retailers.
Some large retail chains also have their own in-house ecolabelling schemes. The
French multi-national Carrefour, for example, has its own Filiere Quality Line eco-
label that it applies to a selected range of its food products including farmed salmon,
shrimp and oysters. Almost all supermarkets in the UK require, as a component part
of traceability audits, investigation into environmental issues as well as guarantees
of social/ethical conditions, but they may not have specific labels that advertise this
fact. The Freedom Foods scheme, run by the UK's Royal Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals, is unusual in that it aims to raise environmental and other
standards primarily by focusing on issues that influence animal welfare. Freedom
Foods has been extended from livestock and poultry to also cover farmed salmon.
Another label available for salmon is the Tartan Quality Mark. Although presented
more as an overall quality mark than as an ecolabel, fish that carry this label come
from farms that have been independently audited and comply with the Code of
Good Practice for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture, which has many clauses detailing
best practices for environmental management. The Label Rouge quality mark can
be found on a wide range of French farm products including farmed oysters, tur-
bot and seabass, and also on some imported aquaculture products such as Scottish
salmon and Madagascan shrimp.
Some schemes are very country specific. For example, the Shrimp Seal of Qual-
ity (SSOQ) label has been developed for farmed shrimp and prawns in Bangladesh,