GAA, Yonghui Yunshang Agree to Promote Responsible Aquaculture in China
The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) is pleased to announce that it has inked a strategic agreement with Yonghui Fuping Yunshang Supply Chain Management Co. Ltd., one of China’s leading suppliers of fresh food to retail, whereby the two organizations will work closely together to promote responsible aquaculture and product originating from GAA’s Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification program as well as to improve the transparency, safety and sustainability of the farmed seafood supply chain.
As part of the agreement, Yonghui Yunshang will prioritize the procurement of product originating from BAP-certified processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills as part of its sustainable seafood sourcing policy.
“We preferentially select and adopt BAP [product], to get close to the highest standards of international aquatic food safety, environmental protection and social responsibility from the source of the product to the finished product. We will collaborate to develop more and more BAP-certified partners and export-quality BAP-certified products,” said Ming Mou, a partner at Yonghui Yunshang.
“In the past 20 years, we have gained a lot of valuable experience,” added GAA VP Dr. Steve Hart, who leads GAA’s China team. “The most important thing is that we realize that it is impossible to achieve our vision by relying on one side. We need partners like Yonghui Yunshang to commit to purchase safe and secure aquatic products. We also need producers who produce safe and secure aquatic products in a sustainable and responsible manner to provide buyers with sustainable farmed seafood products and to establish long-term enterprise, brand and community.”
GAA and Yonghui Yunshang commemorated the agreement with a ceremony in Shanghai on Aug. 28. The ceremony coincided with a week-long promotion at 66 Yonghui Bravo supermarkets in Shanghai, Beijing and Fuzhou. The promotion, which runs from Aug. 27 to Sept. 2, is dubbed “Assurance Aquatic Week” and will feature responsible aquaculture and BAP-certified products.
In addition to Dr. Hart, Mr. Ming Mou and BAP Asia Business Development Manager Jane Bi, attending the ceremony were representatives of Ecuadoran shrimp producers S.O.N.G.A. and Omarsa; the Norwegian Seafood Council; Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Development Co. Ltd.; Hainan Xiangtai Fishery Co. Ltd.; Lingao Haifeng Aquaculture Development Co. Ltd.; Optopeptide Gong (Guangzhou) Trading Co. Ltd.; Vinh Hoan Corp.; Zhejiang Ao’ling Aquatic Seed Industry Technology Co. Ltd.; Rushan Huaxin Food Co. Ltd., Anhui Fuhuang Sanzhen Food Group Co. Ltd.; and Xingcheng Jiaying Weiye Trading Co. Ltd.
BAP is the world’s most comprehensive third-party aquaculture certification program, with standards encompassing environmental responsibility, social responsibility, food safety, animal health and welfare and traceability. It’s also the only program to cover the entire aquaculture production chain — processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills.
Through the first half of 2018, there were 2,079 BAP-certified processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills in 34 countries and six continents. In terms of certified facilities, the BAP program has more than doubled in the past two-and-a-half years.
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.
