Processing and traceability
Out of excuses Traceability should be the top priority for seafood producers
T
he Covid-19 pandemic brought to the fore a previously under-addressed problem for companies and, specifically, their supply chains: their lack of traceability. While many management teams are resisting implementing traceability systems due to their cost, they are no longer simply a “nice to have” – in 2022, they are essential for survival. What’s more, they can actually help improve profitability – particularly in the seafood industry. And now is the perfect time for seafood companies to implement traceability within their supply chains. Below, we explain why.
cessing supply chains – meaning that traceability is hindered by incompatible systems and poor data capture and management.
Increasing profitability While corporate management teams may recognise that traceability systems are desirable, they must also realise that the investment and operational costs can provide a promising return. Planet Tracker’s recent research demonstrates Sustainability and transparency that the typical seafood processor that impleImportantly, traceability systems enable companies to track their prodments a traceability solution can double EBIT ucts throughout the entire supply chain, from origin to use, and provide (earnings before interest and taxation) margins. crucial identification and measurement. This higher profitability results from fewer For the seafood industry – where claims of sustainability cannot generally be guaranteed due to a current lack of sea-to-plate traceability, product recalls, lower product waste and a with companies along the supply chain typically unable to reliably identify decline in legal costs, which mainly explain the three-percentage points margin gain. Interestingseafood products, track their locations and any treatments or transforly, our research showed that it was rarely driven mation – this would be particularly valuable. Industry-wide implementation of traceability would not only help verify by receiving an environmentally sustainable premium for the seafood product – rather, it can sustainability claims, but also avoid exposure to illegal, unreported and create greater market access, as retailers are unregulated fishing and reduce product recalls and investor risks. increasingly only permitting certified environBy gathering data and knowledge across the entire supply chain, management teams are given the opportunity to share data with stakeholders, mentally sustainable products. providing the crucial transparency needed to verify sustainability claims. Preparing for regulatory compliance Yet another benefit of (and, indeed, need Crucial risk management Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the interconnectivity of global for) implementing traceability systems lies in regulatory compliance. In the US for instance, supply chains has become painfully obvious. However, in a mapping of the seafood processing universe, comprising more than 4,000 companies, the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) is a risk-based traceability program that Planet Tracker discovered that there is a stark lack of interoperability requires importers of certain seafood products between companies due to the current fragmentation of seafood proto provide key data, from the point of harvest to the point of entry into US commerce. On 4 February, through the COMPETES act, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to expand the SIMP program to all species – it covers only thirteen species for now. Other markets, including the UK, EU, and Australia, are not far behind. The time is right For companies that have not yet invested in traceability, the current economic environment provides an ideal window to integrate a tracea-
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Traceability implementa�on can “provide significant cost savings ”
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11/04/2022 15:47:06
