USA.- Oysters and scallops are the latest species represented in the industry-leading Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) third-party certification program.
The Rushan Hope Well Foods Co. Ltd. processing plant in China has attained BAP certification, the Global Aquaculture Alliance announced in early November. It’s the first facility of any kind — processing plant or farm — that handles oysters or scallops to earn BAP certification.
The announcement came during the China Fisheries & Seafood Expo in Qingdao on Nov. 2; GAA is exhibiting in stand E1-1101. In a brief ceremony, Liu Haijun, president of Rushan Hope Well Foods, accepted the BAP certificate from GAA CFO/COO Jeff Fort.
The processing plant is located in Rushan city, Shandong province, which is just east of Qingdao. Its oysters and scallops are processed and sold to retail and foodservice outlets in China and around the world. In addition to aquaculture feed, there are now 17 types of farmed seafood represented in the BAP program — Arctic char, barramundi, channel catfish, crawfish, golden pompano, hairy crab, mussels, oysters, pangasius, rainbow trout, salmon, sea bass, scallops, shrimp, steelhead trout, striped bass and tilapia.
Through the first three-quarters of 2017, there were a total of 1,737 BAP-certified facilities in 31 counties and six continents, including 392 processing plants, 1,072 farms, 173 hatcheries and 95 feed mills.
BAP is the world’s most comprehensive third-party aquaculture certification program, with aquaculture standards encompassing environmental responsibility, social responsibility, food safety, animal health and welfare and traceability. It’s also the only program to cover the entire aquaculture production chain — processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills.
About BAP
A division of the Global Aquaculture Alliance, Best Aquaculture Practices is an international certification program based on achievable, science-based and continuously improved performance standards for the entire aquaculture supply chain — farms, hatcheries, processing plants and feed mills — that assure healthful foods produced through environmentally and socially responsible means. BAP certification is based on independent audits that evaluate compliance with the BAP standards developed by the Global Aquaculture Alliance.
