Fishin’ Company-Sponsored Tilapia Farms Earn Best Aquaculture Practices Certification
Thirty-four tilapia farms in Hainan, China, recently earned Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification.
The Fishin’ Company, a leading tilapia supplier that is capable of offering four-star BAP tilapia, sponsored the farms to apply for BAP certification.
“This is an exciting milestone in the industry’s journey toward worldwide four-star BAP tilapia” said Justin Baugh, director of sustainability for The Fishin’ Company. “Our team in China has been working tirelessly to see this initiative through. We are incredibly proud of the hard work the farmers put in to achieve certification.”
Of the 34 tilapia farms, 32 were certified for the first time, while two were recertified. The 34 farms are part of seven groups that were audited. Group certification is one of three types of certifications in the BAP program, where a subset of facilities are audited. To qualify for this type of certification, these groups must have a quality management system (QMS) in place, a sponsor who appoints a facility group manager and trained internal auditors to perform annual audits on 100 percent of member facilities. Also, these groups must have no less than six but no more than 50 member facilities.
In March, the BAP program hit a milestone, surpassing more than 2,000 certified processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills in 33 countries and six continents. By the end of April, the total had reached 2,015, including 117 BAP-certified tilapia farms 84 BAP-certified tilapia processing plants, the majority of which are located in China.
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 owned by the Global Aquaculture Alliance.
