Traceability system of Fish products in selected countries

In 2002, EU adopted Regulation (EC) 178/2002. This Regulation introduces for the first time a requirement on Traceability of food and feed, food and feed-producing animals, and substances intended to be used in food and feed, for a universal application within the Union. The Regulation also requires countries exporting the above products to ensure the traceability conditions of at least equivalent to those set by the Union. In the same year, the US Parliament passed the Bioterrorism Preparedness Act with a section requiring the maintenance of food records. The Act gave the US Food and Drug Administration the right to regulate the food recording requirements in detail. Both of the above systems caused concern in the food industries, especially to those dependent on food export. Many of them were not ready for such a system. The enforcement date of the above traceability requirements are from 2005. As a food category, fish/fishery products are also covered by the above regulations. This paper is an intensive study on requirements of food/fish product traceability in the EU, its member states and the U.S., before looking at the fish products traceability in Iceland and Vietnam.