First Latin American Company To Offer Four-Star BAP Tilapia
Paraiso Springs Aquaculture Guatemala is Latin America’s first company qualified to offer four-star Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) tilapia, the Global Aquaculture Alliance announced in early March.
The company became eligible to offer four-star BAP tilapia with the BAP certification of its hatchery. Its new processing plant and farm — located in Caserio Los Angeles, San Luis Peten, Guatemala — are already BAP certified, as are the feed mills from which it sources feed, Areca Feed Mill in Guatemala and Cargill de Honduras.
Four-star BAP status denotes that the product originates from a BAP-certified processing plant, farm, hatchery and feed mill. It’s the highest achievement in the BAP program.
“We are very proud of the hard work our crew put forth to obtain BAP four-star certification. It certainly is an accomplishment for a small family-run operation like Paraiso Springs. This is a big part of our quality commitment to our clients and community,” said Alejandro Palomo, president of Paraiso Springs Aquaculture Guatemala.
Currently, worldwide, there are 74 BAP-certified tilapia processing plants and 68 BAP-certified tilapia farms, representing more than 175,000 metric tons annually.
About BAP
A division of the Global Aquaculture Alliance, Best Aquaculture Practices is an international certification program based on achievable, science-based and continuously improved performance standards for the entire aquaculture supply chain — farms, hatcheries, processing plants and feed mills — that assure healthful foods produced through environmentally and socially responsible means. BAP certification is based on independent audits that evaluate compliance with the BAP standards developed by the Global Aquaculture Alliance.
