Making seafood origins transparent through electronic traceability

Traceability is a means for consumers to learn about the status, evaluate the quality and safety of food.

Transparency and sustainable development through electronic traceability were among the main topics of an international conference organized by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers on the sidelines of the International Seafood Exhibition that ended yesterday in Boston, USA.

Workshop organized by VASEP in the US

Traceability is a means to help consumers understand the status, evaluate the quality and safety of the food they consume. According to the presentations at the workshop, this system is especially important for Vietnamese seafood exporters, especially in “difficult” markets such as the European Union or the United States.

Mr. Ly Hoang Hai, Deputy Director of the Traceverified project, said: “Traceverified is the collection of information about a product throughout the production and processing process. In the European, American and even Vietnamese markets, there are regulations on traceability, meaning that consumers can look up information about how the product was produced. Then we will know the chain of information from the breed, where it was raised, what it was fed, whether there were antibiotics in the food or not, whether additives were used during the processing or not.”

However, the traceability system in Vietnam is still outdated, mainly relying on archived records, making it difficult for consumers to access. Another disadvantage of this method is that it takes a lot of time and effort to record or search for information. Therefore, electronic traceability is an inevitable requirement for Vietnamese seafood enterprises.

Mr. Heiner Lehr, Danish e-Traceability Consultant, said: "Currently, the traceability system in Vietnam operates largely based on archival documents and this is a problem because it limits consumers' access to information. We can compare it to a library and Google, an online information repository that is useful to billions of people. Traceability also needs to be like Google, that is, product information needs to be posted on the internet as soon as possible and this is a revolutionary step that needs to be taken by the Vietnamese food industry."

With the electronic traceability system, not only distributors but also any consumer can easily find full information about the product they choose to buy anywhere with just a smartphone.

Mr. Ly Hoang Hai said: "In our electronic traceability system, farmers can immediately post information such as what they fed the fish today, the harvest date, which processing facility they transported to... Based on this information, we will build a traceability report and anyone can access this report. For example, if a consumer goes to the supermarket and wants to buy a product, they just need to use their mobile phone to scan the barcode on that product to find all related information."

According to Mr. Ly Hoang Hai, the agency managing the electronic traceability system will directly verify the information posted by food manufacturers and processors through regular and surprise inspections to ensure that the information posted is accurate. Electronic traceability is currently only implemented by Vietnamese enterprises for foreign customers, but in the future this system will be applied in Vietnam to ensure the rights of domestic consumers./.

According to (VOV) - LC