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Have you come across the BAP logo on a seafood product at the grocery store?

This BAP logo represents the Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) program – the world’s most comprehensive third-party certification program for farmed seafood covering the entire aquaculture production chain — including the processing plant, farm, hatchery and feed mill.

Their oversight at each step of the seafood production chain is one of the reasons that the BAP logo is one I always look for at the grocery store. 

This logo signals to me that this product came from facilities that have met the highest standards in, with respect to the environment, the workers and their communities, and the animals themselves.

The BAP Star System

Each star on the BAP label represents part the farmed seafood production chain: the hatchery, farm, feed mill, and processing plant. The certification number is tied to the final step in the production cycle, the processing plant, where the seafood is packaged before it reaches you.

BAP is capable of certifying each stage of this journey, and their unique star system signifies this level of certification. 4-star products, the highest level, means your seafood was BAP-certified all the way through the process.

4 Pillars of Sustainability

One of my favourite things about the BAP program is that its rooted in 4 pillars of sustainability – meaning they account for things beyond environmental responsibility in their program standards.

Environmental Responsibility

Compliance with standards that address such issues as habitat conservation, water quality and effluents.

Animal Health & Welfare

Best practices in animal husbandry, addressing such issues as disease control.

Food Safety

Assurance that no banned antibiotics or other chemicals are used and that all approved chemical treatments are carried out in a responsible fashion.

Social Accountability

Ensuring producers are following best practices in human rights, labor laws, and employee health and safety.

Traceability

The BAP logo on this product means it’s 100% traceable. BAP has a chain of custody process that’s an integral part of the program. Chain-of-custody traceability is the way standards certify how seafood products pass through the various stages of a supply chain — from harvest of the resource to production and distribution of the finished product.

As seafood demand rises and our global supply chains get increasingly more complex, traceability is more important than ever. Having good chain of custody programs in place ensures that we can find out exactly where our seafood came from. Transparency and traceability along the seafood supply chain is incredibly important to avoid things like fraud and mislabelling.

All BAP-certified sites — whether processing plants, farms, feed mills or hatcheries — must maintain detailed traceability records for at least “one step forward and one step back” in their supply chain. This means that they know exactly where the seafood comes from and to whom the finished products are being sold.

This record keeping is especially important when making multi-star claims for finished products that originated from a combination of BAP-certified facilities. Trace-back/forward exercises are performed by BAP auditors annually, to verify that all multi-star claims can be substantiated.

All four star products are 100% traceable along every single step of the production chain. 

Learn more about how BAP ensures sustainability at every step of the supply chain

BAP recently launched its #SeafoodwithStandards campaign, that takes consumers behind the scenes to better understand the criteria BAP uses at every step of the supply chain to ensure the entire journey of your seafood is done responsibly.