Oceana together with more than 500 chefs, restaurant owners and culinary leaders sent a letter this week to the US Government to require that “seafood is traceable in order to prevent seafood fraud and keep illegal fish out of the US market.”

Many fish caught off the coast of Fukushima are still showing high levels of radioactive cesium. This indicates that, since the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that caused the nuclear disaster on 11 March 2011, the seafloor or leakage from the damaged reactors must still be contaminating the area – something that could affect fisheries for decades, a researcher warned.

Major fast-food player KFC takes its sustainable development commitment to a higher level by obtaining MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) certification. The fish KFC offers, which is 100 per cent pollock, is now from sustainable fishing. This initiative further underscores the chain's desire to ensure its products' quality, traceability and safety.

The Florida Department of Agriculture will ask lawmakers to approve the use of the final $1.5 million (€1.1 million) from BP to continue a seafood testing program through October of next year.

(vasep.com.vn) Since October 29th to November 3rd 2012, South Korea sent a delegation to Vietnam to inspect some fish farms and fish processing facilities there.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Agricultural Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are pleased to provide this federal interagency report, The Future of Aquafeeds.

(IntraFish) The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on Tuesday released a new guide to responsible investing in 10 major commodities sectors, including aquaculture and wild-capture fisheries.

(seafood.com) Following the September 8 signing of the Japan-Russia treaty to prevent poaching and smuggling of crab, a new procedure for Japan's crab imports will be introduced from December at the earliest.

(IntraFish) Even in Germany – one of the first European countries to offer ASC-stamped seafood -- it could be some time until consumers realize “what ASC means,” Ronald Horn, sales manager at Bangkok-headquartered Lenk Seafood told IntraFish.

(vasep.com.vn) National Agricultural Extension Center cooperated with Agricultural Extension Center of Kien Giang province to organise a training course on shrimp farming in compliance with VietGAP standards.

Although the media focuses on egregious instances of abuse of food quality and safety, as in our Bloomberg story today about Ngoc Sinh Seafoods in Vietnam, which had 81 rejections by FDA since 2007, the overall performance of China and Vietnam is rarely evaluated.

(SeafoodSource) Canadian wholesale and retail supplier Seacore Seafood earned chain-of-custody certification from the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.

(foodnavigator.com) A new EU project aims to tackle how consumers interpret health claims and symbols on food products in the hope of developing future guidelines on how such claims can be used to strengthen informed choice, healthy eating and industrial competitiveness.

(vasep.com.vn) 2012 year to date, Tra Vinh Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) granted 50 certificates for caught raw fish and 10 certificates for marine fish exported to EU.

(vasep.com.vn) From 18th to 22nd September 2012, NSF Sure Fish - an accredited third-party and non-governmental seafood safety and quality company – sent experts to take audits and assess two pangasius processing plants of An Giang Fisheries Import and Export Joint Stock Company (Agifish) under the Best Aquaculture Pratices (BAP) standard.