Food Science and TechnologyVolume 36, Issue 2 p. 52-55 FeaturesFree Access From catch to plate First published: 09 June 2022 https://doi.org/10.1002/fsat.3602_13.xAboutSectionsPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Cyrus Gilbert-Rolfe of Evrythng identifies the pressing need for improved traceability of seafood products and explains how new standards and technologies can help to enhance the interoperability, security and transparency of seafood supply chains. People in the Western world live largely in a post-industrial age, working primarily in service industries or knowledge sectors. Manufacturers are increasingly turning to sensors, robots, artificial intelligence and machine learning to replace human labour or to make it more efficient. Farmers use satellites to check crop health and leverage innovative technologies to apply pesticides and fertilisers with devices like drones. Industrial fishing, one of the world's oldest occupations, is an exception to this new world brimming with technological answers. Industrial fishing, in which factory ships and deep-sea trawlers haul thousands of tons of fish at a time, is still widespread throughout the globe as the dominant way in which fishing is carried out. Overfishing, stock depletion, habitat destruction, the pointless slaughter of unwanted catch and as much as 30% to 40% of landed fish going to waste have resulted from this method. In Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands, industrial fishing has devastated traditional pre-industrial fleets. The final product, which is often referred to as a ‘food miles’ issue, is primarily a commodity that circulates worldwide like a manufactured component or digital currency rather than fresh marine food from the sea. Some of it is frozen. According to sustainable fishing advocates, an ordinary fish travels around 5,000km before it reaches a plate. Limited visibility of the global supply chain is causing huge challenges for the industry, with gaps in transparency that can lead to waste, mislabelling and consumer hesitation. Over the last few decades the challenges facing the fishing industry have continued to rise. Whether it be overfishing of large fish, such as tuna, or accidental bycatching of protected species, illegal fishing, or the damage to the ocean floor, few can deny the difficulties in trying to create and manage a more ethical and sustainable approach to the seafood sector. In addition, increasingly stringent regulations regarding the supply and marketing of seafood now means that businesses and consumers need to access reliable information about the origins of their products. Challenges for the global supply chain Limited visibility of the global supply chain is causing huge challenges for the industry, with gaps in transparency that can lead to waste, mislabelling and consumer hesitation. The development of industry standards is helping to grow more consumer confidence, but despite this, stories of fraud and mislabelling often occur. A recent Guardian Seascape analysis of 44 studies of more than 9,000 seafood samples from restaurants, fishmongers and supermarkets in more than 30 countries is a case in point; it found that 36% were mislabelled, exposing seafood fraud on a vast global scale1. Many of the studies use relatively new DNA analysis techniques to identify fish species. In one comparison of sales of fish labelled ‘snapper’ by fishmongers, supermarkets and restaurants in Canada, the US, the UK, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, researchers found mislabelling in about 40% of fish tested2. The UK and Canada had the highest rates of mislabelling in the study, at 55%, followed by the US at 38%. According to Rashid Sumaila, a fisheries economist at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia ‘There is considerable economic incentive to sell low-value fish in place of more popular and expensive species – and even more money to be made ‘laundering’ illegally caught fish’. Supply chains across all sectors are complex. Even though most suppliers make attempts to provide full traceability for their products, the challenge for retailers is that each supply partner has a different traceability reporting protocol. This is why a common language for traceability in retail is much needed. Russia ban highlights traceability problems The United States recently banned Russian imports of seafood in response to the ongoing war in Ukraine; the US Government has made strides to ensure seafood from the region does not enter the country, however banning Russian seafood is not as easy as it seems. Current import legislation means that a fish illegally caught in Russia can be sent to China, where it will be processed and then brought into the US as a product of China. According to a 2021 study by the International Trade Commission, Russia is one of the main sources of unreported and unregulated (IUU)- caught seafood imports3. This situation is shining a light on the inadequacies of complex supply chains. Global standards for seafood traceability GS1 EPCIS EPCIS (Electronic Product Code Information Services) is a GS1 standard that enables trading partners to share information about the physical movement and status of products as they travel throughout the supply chain4. If EPCIS data is anchored on distributed ledger technology, this creates the fundamental building blocks for the digital transformation of supply chain management. EPCIS version 2.0 has recently been released for community review and should enhance storage and sharing of supply chain event data. In combination with IOTA (open-source distributed ledger) systems that support the standard and the enterprises that use those systems, the new version of the standard will be able to share trusted and verifiable information in a plug and play, interoperable, secure and decentralised fashion. Today, corporate databases store fragmented data in proprietary formats, making it difficult to share information across organisations. Complex, custom-made and ad-hoc integrations must be constructed to exchange data between several entities. In addition, only bilateral trust may be established, resulting in complex interactions that are still carried out by email or phone calls. Organisations need to rethink their global sourcing strategies as it has become clear that access to better and earlier data from supply chains is needed. The answer is a more agile, modern and holistic supply chain system for the benefit of consumers, enterprises and governments. EPCIS 2.0 offers the interoperability language that supply chains need and the IOTA integration guarantees shareable supply chain events. GDST standard The GDST (Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability) standard5 has been designed as a seafood-specific extension of the GS1 EPCIS standard, which is widely used by worldwide retailers and suppliers, and offers a uniform vocabulary for interoperability across many product categories. The GDST standard enables trading partners to share information about the physical movement and status of seafood products as they travel throughout the supply chain – from business to business and, ultimately, to consumers. The GDST has just announced plans to release a new tool – the GDST Interoperability Capability Test6 – that will be able to test whether IT systems can achieve interoperability under the recently updated GDST 1.1 standards. A common language will be the cornerstone to success in increasing supply chain traceability and as such Digimarc Corporation (a company providing digitisation solutions, including digital watermarks, combined with product intelligence in the cloud) and Pacifical (a specialist in the global tuna market) have been working together to achieve interoperability between their traceability systems through use of communication protocols of the GDST standard. Innovative technology for higher standards Digital identification technology will also play a vital role in ensuring that the seafood industry is able to meet the highest standards of traceability and transparency and leveraging QR technology will allow businesses to connect with consumers, enabling far better transparency within the supply chain. This simple technology could literally revolutionise the seafood industry. By creating digital identities for seafood products, the supply chain becomes traceable from catch to plate. Unique QR codes placed on individual products can instantly link consumers to real-time product data. For seafood, this data can include item-specific provenance information, such as where the fish came from, when it was caught, where and how it was processed and packaged, and how it reached the retail shelf. This detailed information helps to increase the verifiability of seafood supply chains and to ensure market regulations are being adhered to by seafood brands. At a time when roughly a quarter of all fish caught globally is done so illegally, traceability is the first step in eliminating such harmful practices. Now more than ever, consumers want to understand how the food they consume is produced. According to a recent report by NielsenIQ and FMI (Food Industry Association)7, 81% of shoppers say transparency is important or extremely important to them both online and in-store. Consumers want to know more beyond just ingredients and nutrition information; they want to understand a company's manufacturing, sourcing and sustainability practices. With just a simple point of a smartphone, QR codes can empower consumers with important information about the lifecycle of each fish, such as how a company cares for, farms and prepares its products. This allows the brand to build trust with the consumer by displaying the high quality of its processes and helping shoppers make informed purchases. Companies can also utilise QR code technology to gather valuable consumer data by including consumer-scannable QR codes on each item's packaging; any consumer can scan a package at point of sale or post-purchase to discover all about the product. In addition to granting access to reliable information about the origins of their products, seafood brands can collect anonymised consumer engagement data through each scan. By understanding where, when and how consumers are engaging with a company's seafood products, the brand can better understand consumer needs and enhance marketing efforts. QR codes are proving to be a key technology in providing valuable data to both brands and consumers, which is vital for seafood companies having to keep up with the industry's rigorous standards. QR codes are proving to be a key technology in providing valuable data to both brands and consumers, which is vital for seafood companies having to keep up with the industry's rigorous standards. By partnering with platforms that use data intelligence and analytics to improve supply chain logistics and engage consumers, seafood companies can better adhere to evolving regulations and deepen customer relationships. Salmon traceability MOWI, the world's largest producer of salmon, is a useful example of how digital identification technology is game changing for the industry. It uses the technology to ensure salmon's life stages can be captured and that information is then held within Digimarc's cloud. MOWI can easily access information to assess its supply chain, meet regulatory requirements and allow consumers to get information on a particular salmon product ranging from where it was caught through to recommended recipes. With the data managed in product digital identities, MOWI can easily share relevant traceability data with the systems and/or blockchains used by regulators, customers and retail partners. By taking this approach to traceability, food producers are adopting best practices that will help to drive transparency and traceability across the supply chain. Conclusions Traceability difficulties, as well as consumer worries about unlawful and unsustainably farmed fish products, must all be addressed in the seafood supply chain. Digital identity technology has the potential to address these problems and radically change the traceability of seafood products. Interoperability between systems will be a gamechanger for the industry; allowing disparate systems to talk to each other in one language over a multitude of organisations within the supply chain will provide an unbreakable level of traceability that is much needed. Cyrus Gilbert-Rolfe, CRO, Evrythng, London The Evrythng Product Cloud is a platform that enables gathering and organisation of product data from within and outside enterprises to enhance transparency of supply chains and authenticity. email info@digimarc.com web https://evrythng.com/ References 1Leahy, S. 2021. Revealed: seafood fraud happening on a vast global scale. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/15/revealed-seafood-happening-on-a-vast-global-scaleGoogle Scholar 2Cawthorn, D., Baillie, C., Mariani, S. 2018. Generic names and mislabeling conceal high species diversity in global fisheries markets. Conservation Letters: e12573. Available from: https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12573Google Scholar 3Cleland, V. 2022. Russian seafood ban without traceability questioned. Available from: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/valerie-cleland/russian-seafood-ban-without-traceability-questioned#:~:text=According%20to%20a%202021%20report, actually%20caught%20by%20Russian%20vesselsGoogle Scholar 4GS1. EPCIS. Available from: https://www.gs1.org/standards/epcisGoogle Scholar 5 Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability. 2022. Available from: https://traceability-dialogue.org/Google Scholar 6 Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability. 2022. GDST opens new phase of growth and services for advancing seafood traceability. Available from: https://traceability-dialogue.org/gdst-opens-new-phase-of-growth-and-services-for-advancing-seafood-traceability/Google Scholar 7Nielsen IQ. 2022. Transparency in an evolving omnichannel world. Available from: https://nielseniq.com/global/en/insights/report/2022/transparency-in-an-evolving-omnichannel-world/Google Scholar Volume36, Issue2June 2022Pages 52-55 ReferencesRelatedInformation