Information on voluntary Certification - Foodcert India

586. CERTIFICATION OF AQUACULTUREPRODUCTS IN ASIAFish products from capture fisheries and aquaculture are a widely tradedinternational commodity. About 38 percent of global fish output by liveweight enters international marketing channels for export. It is estimatedthat nearly half of all fish products are now produced by aquaculture and arebecoming increasingly important in the fish products trade. The Asia-PacificRegion produces more than 80 percent of all aquacultural production and istherefore also a key region in the trade of these products.The aquacultural sector shares many common features with agricultural andlivestock production (unlike the capture fisheries sector) and consequentlyfaces similar challenges as other agricultural products in terms of qualitycontrol and access to export markets. Increasingly stringent demands byretailers and consumers relating to the safety of aquacultural products thatmay arise from production practices is pushing the sector to look towardsmechanisms for assuring consumers and buyers. Environmental and socialissues in some aquaculture production systems, unconnected to food safety,have also created sufficient public concern to lead to some buyers requestinggreater assurance of responsible production. This has led to a recent rapidrise in demand for certification of some aquacultural products, a trend whichis considered to be steadily rising. With most countries in Asia givingincreased attention to food safety, there is a growing proliferation of productcertification systems, çgood aquacultural practiceé guidelines, codes of conduct,and other mechanisms or schemes intended to provide a basis for safe andsustainable seafood production. Such proliferation may be counterproductiveas it may lead to buyer or consumer confusion and public misunderstandingas to what is actually being assured by the various certification schemes. Alack of harmonization or benchmarking amongst standards and schemes also