September 21, 2010

Vietnam's seafood sector to implement origin-tracing system

The Vietnamese seafood industry will soon start implementing modernised technology to trace the origins of seafood, the fishing process and transport to sharpen the competitive edge of its products in the international market.

With the help of this technology, seafood companies will be better able to satisfy global demand and ensure their food is safe by gauging the quality and freshness of their products.

The tracing system for aquaculture commodities will help firms save money on production and identify any faults in their products easily, so they can fix them quickly, said Ta Viet Dung, Vice Head of the Technology Application and Development Department under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The department worked with a Thai partner and IBM for a project on the use of information and identification technology to trace the origins of seafood for national companies, according to reports.

Several Vietnamese firms obtained access to origin-tracing solutions to generate a supply chain for safe seafood, such that a sole tracking device-whether a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag attached to a fish, a bar code on a product package or a number assigned to a shrimp pond-is placed on each element. Consequently, seafood can be scanned and thereby have its precisely analysed data transferred to the person seeking it in real time.

The framework for tracing food to its origins is important to guarantee food safety, as it may encourage better compliance by companies to the stringent regulations set by importing countries and their management agencies.

Binh An Seafood Processing Joint Stock Company (Bianfishco) is running the project effectively as a pilot.