Exclusive: Traceability “blind spots” in global seafood supply chains

The Outlaw Ocean Project’s Food for Feed investigation examines the global fishmeal industry, tracing the journey of marine ingredients from fishing vessels and processing plants through to their use in aquaculture feed.

Its accompanying Bait to Plate tool maps the movement of fishmeal through feed mills and fish farms to retailers, comparing companies’ sustainability claims with reported concerns linked to their suppliers.

Sara Morris, senior food safety and traceability scientist at IFT’s Global Food Traceability Center, explains how greater data standardisation and international collaboration could help address these challenges.

“One of the biggest blind spots highlighted by this investigation is the limited visibility into activities occurring further upstream in seafood supply chains, particularly the origins of feed ingredients and the fishing activities that supply them,” she said.

“Basic information about where, when, and by whom fish were harvested can be difficult to obtain, and that information often becomes even harder to trace as ingredients are processed, mixed, and exchanged across multiple supply chain actors.”

Morris explained that fragmentated data collection and sharing, as well as differing regulatory requirements and industry initiatives make it difficult to coordinate effective responses on an international scale.

An essential foundation

The gaps in supply chain visibility also present challenges for existing certification and assurance schemes, as they “can create unintended blind spots”.

Morris highlights how certification programs operate within “defined scopes” and are limited by the information provided.

This limitation highlights the importance of traceability for Morris, as not only would it verify sustainability claims but strengthen certification programmes themselves.

While Morris emphasised that “traceability alone cannot guarantee sustainability”, she explained that it provides “critical information to help assurance systems evolve alongside our understanding of environmental and social impacts”.

Traceability, for Morris, is an essential foundation, needed to make better informed decisions.

“International harmonisation”

Addressing these challenges will require “greater standardisation, harmonisation, and collaboration” across the seafood industry, according to Morris.

Morris believes the adoption of standardised, interoperable traceability practices is essential to addressing these gaps, enabling information to be shared consistently across supply chains.

Indonesia’s national traceability system, STELINA, is alluded to as an example towards international progress.

“STELINA successfully passed the GDST Capability Test, demonstrating its ability to exchange standardized traceability data with other GDST-aligned systems,” Morris said.

“This is an important milestone as it means that supply chain actors can continue using different traceability systems while still exchanging information consistently and efficiently, rather than being required to adopt a single national platform.”

One of the most important lessons for Morris is that “international harmonisation doesn’t require everyone to use the same technology platform.”

“By adopting common standards for traceability data and data exchange, countries can build on their existing infrastructure while enabling interoperability across systems and borders.”

Responsibility across the supply chain

When asked about what needs changing across the industry, Morris points to the responsibility that retailers and seafood brands can take.

She finds that they can drive progress by prioritising traceability when sourcing suppliers, as well as abiding to common data standards.”

She adds, however, “the sustainability of aquaculture feed is a complex issue, and substituting one ingredient for another doesn’t necessarily eliminate environmental or social risks. Marine and land-based ingredients each have their own supply chains, production practices, and potential impacts.

Our focus is on strengthening the traceability systems that make these assessments possible.”