News

New program to aid seafood buyers

July 29, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Fisheries Institute (NFI), whose members provide about 75 percent of all seafood consumed in the United States, recently formed the Better Seafood Bureau (BSB) to ensure that restaurateurs and retailers have a means of recognizing seafood suppliers who uphold high standards for business operations.

NFI's senior company officers have signed commitment forms pledging that their products are not transshipped to avoid duties, mislabeled for species, or mislabeled for weight or counts.

The BSB will retain a call center to accept comments from buyers in the seafood value chain about any unresolved concerns regarding transshipment and mislabeling of seafood. The call center will confirm that the caller attempted to resolve the matter directly with the supplier involved prior to accepting the comment. For calls passing these criteria, the BSB will examine the comment and determine when a situation with a particular company requires further investigation.

Companies with three unresolved customer complaints will be required to go through a third-party audit of their processes. The BSB will begin receiving calls in August 2007; the phone number for the BSB call center will be released at that time.