Promising to tell you the Prawn, the whole Prawn and nothing but the Prawn…….here I shine a light on global shrimp aquaculture and downstream markets……for those looking in from outside and those inside interested in the wider outside. Food trends, intelligence, tech, regulatory, investment and some fun, way out, or even wacky, shrimp material….
A shrimp has also the right to know life. It has a head and eyes. At least in most consumer markets – unless highly processed – shrimp have heads.
Growing cells and calling the meat produced shrimp is not correct.
This is about labelling, marketing and clear information for consumer knowledge.
3 5 2 law in China. Will mean linkages on import, trade and suchlike will have to align.
Add in a US/China trade war and a long term distance sourcing China strategy.
No doubt China will also be looking to develop it’s own shrimp certification, source traceability and food safety systems.
US developed certifications, IBM Foodtrust and even US equipment may not be the most welcome for business continuity and trade into China.
Different technology will need to be offered. Or at least a bolt on overlay.
https://www.ft.com/content/b55fc6ee-1787-11ea-8d73-6303645ac406
Pushed by so called champagne environmentalists out of the UK back in the 1970’s.
Championed by forward thinking retailers such as UK M & S and supported by Unilever’s involvement in the fishmeal raw material and protein conversion production industry. Not really standards back then but definitely standard operating procedures and responsibilities in an array of areas such as the environment and child labor.
In the early 1980’s, media news stories start taking on importance. If bad practices got out to the market then share prices could be affected. The UK stock market was very sensitive.
So a requirement was to be ahead of the game always.
This thinking was crucial and is still just as important 35 years ago as it is today. To be retroactive and curative is not such a good trait. It is inefficient and expensive for business. What is needed is to be proactive and preventative. This also requires a larger world view…..and aspirational targets.
As a nascent industry this thinking was taken on board early on by shrimp farmers and this was later developed and applied in shrimp processing, markets downstream and horizontally in the industry. In fact these standards processes have now been translated to other species globally.
Global food standards nowadays cover a wide range of offerings. There are a plethora of standards available, covering everything from environmental issues, social aspects, technical and operational, food safety, animal welfare, trade….you name it there is a standard to cover.
For larger organisations internally promoted food standards were an important part of brand protection for decades but the reach, depth and extent were not there. The wider food industry was still finding its way with technology and media starting to play its part and the importance of market feedback becoming more obvious.
Standards that are certified and independent have arisen only in the past 25 years, together with a massive ancillary service industry, and from being effectively non existent three decades ago.
Global Food Standards development was driven and pioneered by the growth of the fastest protein food production industry on the planet, namely shrimp aquaculture.
So in this series of few posts we will take a look how this came about….and what it means going forward…
Report here on IFFO and GAA recommendations.
Back in GOAL meeting 2010 in Kuala Lumpur at a round table Prawnmaster asked the Thais how come they were able to supply such cheap shrimp….and that buyers and markets in the West were requiring traceability on fishmeal.
Yes he got a frosty “walk out of the meeting” reception…and GAA the next bolt-on standard to aspire to.
Of course shock horror when slave trade in fishing was also uncovered.
