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Seafood
consumption in the U.S.
Currently, the United States consumes nearly 12 billion pounds
of seafood a year. By 2025, demand for seafood is projected
to grow by another 4.4 billion pounds (2 million metric tons)
above what is consumed today. According to the National Fisheries
Institute (NFI) of which Berdex Seafood, Inc is a member, the
top five seafood products currently consumed in the United States
are shrimp, canned tuna, salmon, Pollock and catfish, accounting
for 76 percent of total U.S. seafood consumption.
It is expected
that fresh and frozen fish products will account for a growing
share of overall seafood consumption, with shrimp remaining
at the top. By 2020, shrimp, salmon, tilapia and catfish will
be the top four seafood products consumed.
Americans
eat an average of just over 16lbs of seafood a year, far below
U.S. government recommendations that Americans eat at least
12oz of seafood a week or a minimum of 39lbs a year for optimum
health. In 2005, only 16.2 lbs per capita was consumed. Out
of the 16.2 lbs of seafood consumed in 2006, 4.4 lbs represents
shrimp consumption according to NFI. The National Academy of
Sciences, the American Heart Association and the 2005 U.S. Dietary
Guidelines advise Americans to eat about two meals of fish per
week to get a wide range of health benefits, from heart protection
to weight control. That is also consistent with the guidelines
from the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection
Agency and the National Healthy Mothers coalition.
Ocean caught seafood
Over the last decade, imported seafood became a much greater
component of total U.S. shrimp supply. Data from the National
Marine Fisheries Service indicate that domestic landings of
fish and shrimp has been steady or declining slightly while
seafood imports in general are rising, increasingly supplied
by the growth in farmed production.
Aquaculture
Aquaculture, and particularly fish and shrimp farming, has grown
rapidly during the past few decades. It is now coming of age
at a time of increased ecological awareness and environmental
activism.
Most shrimp farming areas are in tropical areas that allow year-round
shrimp farming.
In addition, shrimp farming requires a coastal location, and
in the United States, the cost of most coastal properties makes
shrimp farming economically unfeasible. Asian governments understand
the need to implement and enforce regulations and best management
practices for preventing or mitigating adverse environmental
impacts.
FAO/Sustainable
Shrimp Farming
Berdex Seafood’s supplier selection process takes into
account how seafood suppliers cooperate with the Government
to abide by regulations and implement best management practices.
Our shrimp suppliers are following the principles described
in the 2006 FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations), NACA (Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia-Pacific),
UNEP (United Nations Environment Program),
WB (World
Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program), WWF (World Wildlife Fund)
report “International Principles for Responsible Shrimp
Farming” that can be read in its entirety by going to
the website www.fao.org. (Additional
informative data on seafood in general are available at www.globefish.org)
http://library.enaca.org/certification/publications/
Aquaculture_Certification_Guidelines_Draft_Version_2_17-12-07.pdf
FDA/HACCP/GMP/SSOP
All seafood suppliers Berdex uses have been assigned FDA registration
numbers to simplify direct contact in case of emergency. They
follow U.S. FDA guidelines for Hazard Analysis Critical Control
Points-HACCP, certified by the respective country’s Department
of Fisheries. The HACCP system, which is science based and systematic,
identifies specific hazards and measures for their control to
ensure the safety of food. HACCP is a tool to assess hazards
and establish control systems that focus on prevention rather
than relying mainly on end-product testing. The suppliers produce
frozen seafood for Berdex,) in a facility that complies to the
Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and the appropriate Proper
Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP) adhering to
the U.S.“C(ode)F(ederal)R(egulations)” Title 21,
Part 123, “Procedures for the safe and sanitary processing
and importing of fish and fishery products”. Copies of
HACCP reports and yearly letters of compliance of all seafood
suppliers are on file at Berdex’s offices in San Francisco
as required by FDA. For further details please visit the website
www.cfsan.fda.gov.
CODEX
Good Aquaculture Practices are certified by the respective country’s
Department of Fisheries according to CODEX standard. The CODEX
Alimentarius is a collection of internationally recognized standards,
codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relating
to foods, food production and food safety and quality under
the aegis of consumer protection. The CODEX Alimentarius is
recognized by the World Trade Organization as an international
reference point for the resolution of disputes concerning food
safety and quality and consumer protection. Further information
is available at www.codexalimenatarius.net
The
Global Food Safety Initiative(GFSI)/ISO
Most of our suppliers, in addition to having implemented a HACCP
system, meet the standards of quality management system ISO
9011:2000 (Quality Management Systems),14001 (European environmental
management standards) and ISO 17025 (Competence of Testing and
Calibration Laboratories). For further details please consult
the International Standards Organization: www.iso.org
These suppliers are audited and certified yearly by BRC, the
British Retail Consortium, bringing the suppliers in line with
The Global Food Safety Initiative Document, Fifth Edition (September
2007), an effort by U.S. and foreign retail chains to verify
food safety. Further details consult www.foodsafety@ciesnet.com
ACC
Some of Berdex’s suppliers carry an ACC Best Aquaculture
Practices (BAP) label on their packaging, signifying certification
by the Aquaculture Certification Council. The Aquaculture Certification
Council, Inc. is a nongovernmental body established to certify
social, environmental and food safety standards at aquaculture
facilities throughout the world. This nonprofit, nonmember public
benefit corporation applies the Global Aquaculture Alliance
Best Aquaculture Practices standards in a certification system
that combines site inspections and effluent sampling with sanitary
controls, therapeutic controls and traceability. Further details
at www.aquaculturecertification.org
Greenpeace
The Greenpeace organization, in January 2008 (www.greenpeace.org)
has issued a publication: “Challenging the Aquaculture
Industry on Sustainability”, that carries recommendations
in regards to Aquaculture certification (footnote 69, Page 17)
It refers to the recently published document by FAO: FAO Guidelines
for Aquaculture certification. Further details on this document
please go to:
http://library.enaca.org/certification/publications/
Aquaculture_Certification_Guidelines_Draft_Version_2_17-12-07.pdf
This document
in turn makes reference to “The International Principles
for Responsible Shrimp Farming”, explained under our FAO
listing as the recommended guidance for sustainable shrimp farms.
Berdex Standards:
Sustainable Shrimp Farming/Certification
Selected suppliers comply with below internationally recognized
standards and are audited yearly by BRC (British Retail Consortium)
on compliance:
1) FAO Guidelines for Aquaculture certification-Draft version
December 2007
2) FAO The International Principles for Responsible Shrimp Farming-2006
Most of our suppliers, in addition to having implemented a HACCP
system (copies of HACCP reports available) meet the standards
of quality management system ISO 9011:2000 (Quality Management
Systems),14001 (European environmental management standards)
and ISO 17025 (Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories).
Eating fish/Mercury levels
Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, assistant professor of medicine and
epidemiology at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School
of Public Health, and co-author of one of the most comprehensive
studies to date on the impact of fish consumption on human health—
“I know I sound like I'm trying to downplay the risk
but I really think we are experimenting with people's lives
when we give recommendations or write stories or reports that
make people eat less fish. We know from very good human studies
that fish intake reduces the risk of dying from a heart attack
by about a third. And heart attack is the number-one cause of
death in the U.S. among both women and men. It's the number-one
cause of death in almost every country in the world. And eating
fish once or twice a week reduces that risk by a third. So if
we're causing people not to eat fish or to choose to eat something
other than fish because they're worried that the fish has some
mercury in it,
they are increasing their risk of dying from a heart attack
for a concern that has not been established.”
TESTING-before
and after shipment
Physical, Biological and Chemical end-product testing is performed
by suppliers as part of their HACCP plan. Compliance with packaging
and labeling requirements, correct weight and loading into reefer
containers is supervised by Berdex’s staff and/or local
agent and confirmed by internationally renowned testing agencies
like SGS (Society General de Surveillance, www.sgs.com)
before shipment. For details on the qualifications of Berdex’s
overseas inspection team, please consult the resume link showing
the background and expertise of the staff employed. (resumes)
On import into the United States, inspections by FDA or USDA
may be added to the process either by customs and/or FDA authorities
on a spot basis, or may take place according to our customer’s
USDC inspection requirement, confirming all seafood imported
by Berdex is of consistent high quality and conforms in weight
and specifications to the required standard.
C-TPAT
Berdex is a certified partner in C-TPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership
Against Terrorism), resulting in a more efficient import process,
making scheduled deliveries more likely to be on time, without
incurring last minute delays.
EAN.UCC Global Location Numbers (GLN)/1SYNC
Berdex has joined 1SYNC, a GDSN (Global Data Synchronization
Network) certified data pool and already implemented the process
of data synchronization for their most popular products. It
enables trading partners to conduct EDI transactions, and eventually
to track products through the supply chain using RFID. It is
accurate and compliant with universally supported EAN.UCC System
standards and leads to significant savings on both the supply
and demand side.
•
Reduced number of inaccurate orders from our customers and faster
order fulfillment
• Reduced internal costs for handling incorrect orders
and correcting incorrect or out-of-date product
information
• Faster time-to-market for new products (near instantaneous
product introductions)
• Stronger trading partner communication and collaboration.
EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
Berdex is capable of receiving purchase orders via EDI, reducing
invoicing errors
Packaging
Berdex offers custom designed packaging with a fast turn around
time, website access to designs allowing faster printing preparation,
and Tiger Bay ® branded bags, boxes and master cartons in
higher quality materials, three different design styles, that
carry clear thawing and cooking instructions, bi-lingual (Spanish
and English) wording, “Best if Used by: 00/00/00”
information and using the latest FDA Nutrition Facts compliant
data, including allergen warning, 800 number for customer complaints,
UPC codes, EAN master carton codes, Country of Origin data,
Farm Raised or Ocean caught references.
SQF/ISO
22000
Benchmarking
of food safety standards has been carried out with reference
to the GFSI Guidance Document. The compliance of four standards-the
BRC Global Food Standard, the Dutch HACCP Code, the EFSIS Standard
and the International Food Standard (IFS) was announced in January
2003. A fifth standard, the SQF 2000 standard owned by US retail
association the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) is now also in
compliance with GFSI. These technical standards are critical
for food retailers today, but often cannot proceed with recognition
of equivalency. GFSI’s long term vision remains the creation
of a single global food safety standard. ISO 22000 is the draft
international standard for food safety management.
Where
Tiger Bay ® products are purchased
SUPPLIES OF SHRIMP
Indonesia, India and Thailand are all major producers of shrimp
while Vietnam’s share of total global production has been
accelerating. The five Asian countries China, Indonesia, India,
Thailand and Vietnam account for 72 per cent of total global
production of shrimp.
Thailand
Thailand is the largest and most sophisticated supplier of shrimp
to the United States. Shrimp represents about 34% of total U.S.
seafood imports and about 25% of total U.S. seafood consumption.
The Thai seafood suppliers produce shrimp, fish and squid, with
the majority of shrimp coming from shrimp farms. The shrimp
suppliers selected by Berdex Seafood, Inc support ecologically
sound shrimp farming and have strict quality control procedures
in place based on FDA approved guidelines that guarantee shrimp
is fresh, correctly weighed and packed and is free from the
dangers of physical, biological and chemical contaminants.
Indonesia
Shrimp farming production continues to grow while traditional
shrimp catch production is decreasing. Penaeus monodon (Black Tiger shrimp) accounts for the largest share of production
though Penaeus Vanamei (White shrimp) appears to overtake it. Penaeus Vanamei is largely cultivated by semi-intensive
and intensive farming. Because
shrimp in Indonesia comes from such a variety of various sources,
Berdex keeps a close eye on the origin of production to ascertain
a consistent product.
Vietnam
Vietnam is a densely populated South-East Asian country, bordering
China in the north and Laos and Cambodia in the west, with a
3,200 km coastline stretching from the Gulf of Thailand, east
to the South China Sea and north to the Gulf of Tonkin. Shrimp
farming continues to expand rapidly across Vietnam. Production
increased from under 200 metric tons in 1976 to over 100,000
metric tons in 2004, with 80% of this production in the south
and two thirds of annual production processed for export.
Today, shrimp culture is one of the most important activities
in Vietnam in terms of area, production, employment and foreign
exchange. In 2000, Vietnam was the world’s fifth largest
producer of farmed shrimp. The fisheries sector in Vietnam exported
US$1.76 billion in 2001, twice the amount exported in 1998,
making it the country’s third largest earner of export
income, and seafood farms spread to cover over one million ha,
a 74% increase from 1998. Foreign earnings from aquaculture
are increasing annually, and the annual earnings from shrimp
alone are estimated to be US$500 million. Vietnam’s main
export products to Berdex are Black Tiger cooked shrimp, White
cooked shrimp and shrimp rings.
Ecuador
The second largest supplier of shrimp to the United States,
shrimp is primarily delivered in blocks of 6x 4 lbs, and in
view of the majority of our customers requiring shrimp packed
in one or two pound bags, in individually quick frozen format,
easy peel, our imports from Ecuador are limited.
China
China is the largest producer of seafood in the world, representing
some 35 per cent of total global seafood production in 2005.
Seafood consumption in China is expected to reach 79 lbs per
capita in 2020, an increase of 40 per cent from the 2006 average
which was at 56 lbs per capita. Consumption rise is in line
with increasing purchasing power and strong preference for seafood
among Chinese consumers. Total seafood production in 2005 totaled
51 million Metric Tons, retaining a stable year-on-year growth
of 4.08 per cent, while a year earlier it grew 4.16 per cent.
Aquaculture, capture, production and processing is concentrated
in a few regional centers in China, notably around Dalian and
Qingdao in the North and in Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces
in the South.
Shandong,
where Qingdao is the capital, was the leader among China’s
provinces in the production of seafood in 2005, with a total
of 7.4 million Metric Tons. Out of the top ten aquaculture products
harvested in Chinese seawater, six are different varieties of
shellfish, including the top three. While freshwater aquaculture
is predominantly dependant on carps, which make up 72 per cent
of the total, species such as shrimp and tilapia are gaining
momentum. The growth and successes of Chinese seafood production
in 2007 has been overshadowed by a series of import bans from
trading partners relating to antibiotic contamination, carcinogens,
and before that traces of chloramphenicol.
The EU is
China’s biggest trading partner, while the US remains
a vital export destination with strong growth in agri- and aquaculture
related products. Japan is the major export destination for
Chinese seafood, receiving around half of all exports in recent
years.
China is
the world leader in shrimp aquaculture. With its rapidly growing
aquaculture industries, China may soon surpass Canada and Thailand
as the leading supplier of seafood products to the United States.
Our offices are working closely with Chinese Government Quality
Control inspectors to ensure that product supplied is fresh
and meets or exceeds FDA quality standards for physical, chemical
and biological substances. China is the main frozen breaded
shrimp exporter to the United States (60.3% of the volume traded)
and is also a major exporter of tilapia, wild caught Pacific
chum salmon, arrow tooth flounder, yellow fin sole, Greenland
halibut and ahi tuna.
Its dominance
in producing shrimp is impressive. Out of the 6.1 million metric
tons of shrimp produced in 2005 worldwide, China produced about
2.5 million metric tons or 41 per cent. Consumption of shrimp
in China has grown tenfold in the last ten years and we predict
that the growth will continue. One of the main reasons why the
consumption of shrimp has grown so much is the advances that
have been made in the production of shrimp in China, where production
costs have been brought down to levels unheard of before. Another
key reason is the introduction and rise of the Litopenaeus Vanamei
species, which has in less than three decades become the dominant
species in Chinese shrimp production. Other inter-related reasons
for the robustness of the Chinese shrimp market are:
- A tenfold increase in the domestic consumption of shrimp,
whether as raw material for processing or for human consumption;
- A significant increase in the share of processed shrimp for
export
China is expected to be able to supply most of the rising demand
in the domestic market for seafood. However, a rise in imports
of crustaceans such as shrimp is expected.
Therefore, the fact that the country will need to resort to
imported supply suggests the tremendous predicted popularity
of crustaceans rather than China’s lack of ability to
satisfy that demand.
India
The United States is India's second-largest shrimp buyer after
Japan. Annual shrimp imports by the US are estimated to be over
$3 billion today; India exported shrimp worth $360 million in
2003. The seafood industry was badly hit by the levying of a
10.17% anti-dumping tariff on shrimp exports to the US towards
the end of 2004. In value terms, the US accounts for close to
36 percent of all seafood exports from India, but in quantity
terms, Europe leads the list.
Bangladesh
The Nov. 15 2007 cyclone that devastated Bangladesh and stymied
the country's shrimp-farming industry may affect the U.S. supply
of black tiger (Penaeus monodon) shrimp in the next few months.
About 70 percent of the country's shrimp production occurs in
its three western districts - Satkhira, Khulna and Bagerhat
- which were hit the hardest by Cyclone Sidr's 150-mph winds
and 15-foot tidal surge (the storm killed nearly 3,300 people).Almost
all of the black tiger and freshwater (Macrobrachium rosenbergii)
shrimp farms, hatcheries and processing plants in those three
districts were damaged by the storm's tidal surge, according
to the Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association.
Bangladesh is one of the United States' primary sources of black
tigers, next to India, Thailand and Vietnam. Through October,
U.S. shrimp imports from Bangladesh were already down 17.7 percent,
to 29.4 million pounds. They totaled 42.9 million pounds in
2006. U.S. importers, including Berdex, will be forced to look
to other countries to compensate for the Bangladesh shortfall.
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