Best Aquaculture Practices, the leading global certification system for farmed seafood, has added SGS to its international team of auditing bodies.
In a service agreement between BAP and SGS, the independent contractor will perform facility inspections and certification audits for aquaculture farms, hatcheries, processing plants and feed mills that apply for BAP certification.
“This achievement represents a very important step for SGS in order to meet the food safety and sustainability needs of the aquaculture industry and retailers globally through BAP certification,” said Rob Parrish, vice president global food at SGS.
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 64,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1,250 offices and laboratories around the world.
“We are very pleased to work with an auditing organization with such worldwide capacity and capabilities as SGS,” BAP Executive Director Jim Heerin said, “particularly as the Global Aquaculture Alliance is preparing to announce the completion of new standards.”
BAP certification audits are based on species- and facility-specific international standards developed by the Global Aquaculture Alliance. SGS auditors will receive training and authorization from BAP regarding the certification standards before carrying out audits.
SGS joins Global Trust Certification, NSF International and John Bean Technologies, Ltd./Food Audits International as an ISO 65-accredited certification body designated to perform BAP audits. The use of ISO 65 inspectorates allows BAP certification to comply with Global Food Safety Initiative benchmarking and other international standards requirements.
About BAP
The Best Aquaculture Practices program is a comprehensive, rigorous, metrics-based certification program for aquaculture – including farms, hatcheries, processing plants and feed mills. BAP standards cover the environment, social responsibility, animal welfare, food safety and traceability. For more information on BAP, visit www.gaalliance.org/bap/.
Source: Global Aquaculture Alliance