Regardless of your location – whether you are an importer, retailer, supermarket, food service distributor, fishing company, farmer, or seafood or feed manufacturer, it can be a huge challenge to navigate the number of standards and initiatives out there. Knowing which ones fit best with your sourcing policy, or how best to meet the requirements as a supplier, is not easy. Several standards overlap but are not identical.
It takes many, many years to truly become an expert on all of this. Particularly since clauses can sometimes be interpreted in a variety of ways. This can impact both the audit process and an organization’s understanding of how to comply.
What makes Seafood Collaborators uniquely positioned to assist you in achieving your goals and needs? We have been both auditee and the auditor, the buyer who sets procurement policies, and the supplier that must comply. Further, our staff have worked for decades training wild and aquaculture producers, retailers, importers and auditors worldwide to help take the mystery out of the meaning of the clauses. We’ve helped all types of organizations plug compliance gaps and create meaningful corporate policies around the ocean of options out there.
Take a look at some examples of the various third-party certification, benchmarking and ratings organizations there are for food safety, the environment, social responsibility, workplace safety, animal welfare, and more. (To say nothing about first- and second-party standards).
Yes, it’s A LOT. What’s more, standards, global initiatives and benchmarks expand over time and get stricter, raising the bar. Why? Well, one thing a lot of people don’t know is the pressure they are under from NGOs, the marketplace, media, and others to improve to ensure they remain relevant, robust, and credible.
Whether you struggle to understand the differences between standards or initiatives, have non-conformities or gaps that need addressing, need to develop or update your sourcing or certification policies, or want to expand your knowledge and engagements – we are here for you!
Development, update, assessment/gap analysis, corrective action, training or consultation across the broad scope of topics (social responsibility, food safety, GMPs, quality, traceability, environmental and so on):
Corporate programs/systems
Vessel, processing plant, farm or feed mill facility compliance
Corporate certification policies
Sourcing policies
Marketing – effective messaging of your programs to help sales
Non-conformity preventive and corrective action consultation
Advocacy