Key players in the seafood industry have found that logistics and operating costs currently account for up to 15 % of seafood sales value. The adoption of standardised labelling and traceability processes can reduce the time and resources required to fulfil legal obligations, reduce operating costs and meet growing customer and consumer demands.

 

Nevertheless, the distribution of fishery and aquaculture products troughout Europe is currently carried out using a variery of different approaches. In this context, the new European Standard EN 17099 "Information technology - Fishery and aquaculture products - Requirements for labelling of distribution units an pallets in the trade of fishery and aqualculture products" will help the fishery and aquaculture industry to secure a faster, more efficient and lower cost supply chain for their fresh and frozen fishery and aquaculture products. 

 

This adds value by facilitating higher delivery quality, increased efficiency, better traceability, improved food safety, and at the same time ensuring compliance with all national and EU regulations. In short, EN 17099 is designed to help the industry meet the ever-growing customer and consumer demands for enhanced traceability and sustainability information. In turn, improved traceability will make it more difficult to trade illegal, unreported and unregulated fishery and aquaculture products.

 

As a European standard, EN 17099 will help remove some technical barriers to the flow of fishery and aquaculture products in Europe. The obstacles arise as a result of the fact that EU and EFTA Member States have different public regulations regarding the duty to provide information along the value chain, related to catch location and fishing gear. Standardized labelling will enhance the quality and availability of traceability data and support the interoperability between information technology systems, to the benefit of consumers and seafood companies alike.

 

Furthermore, careful management of the essential global resource is a key feature of a sustainable future, and investments in infrastructure are crucial to achieving sustainable development. EN 17099 contributes to several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation; Goal 9: Industry, innovation, and infrastructure; Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production; Goal 13: Life below water. 

 

This new standard was developed by "CEN/TC 225 - AIDC technologies" under the Secretariat of Standards Norway, taking into consideration knowledge, insights and best practices from many leading industry experts.

 

(Source: CEN-CENELEC)