Latin Is No Go – Fishupdate.com

SEAFOOD industry leaders say proposals to use Latin species names at the first point of sale are impractical and have made a last ditch call for the idea to be dropped.

New EU rules for more detailed seafood labelling came into force on 1 January with the regulation for UK implementation now being drawn up.

The Food Standard Agency’s formal consultation on the new regulation, which will enforce the EU rules, closed on 7 May with the Seafish Food Legislation Advisory Committee calling for a more “pragmatic approach” on the issue.

Robert Milne,its chairman, said: “Generally we support greater traceability of fish and shellfish and to their credit the FSA has worked closely with the seafood industry during the drafting of these labelling rules in Brussels with several of our concerns resolved.

“But the proposal requiring the scientific name be included with the commercial name on documentation at the fish market will simply cause confusion. It will also unnecessarily add to costs as this will require changes to existing software systems and the printing of new documentation.”

The labelling regulation (Commission Regulation 2065/2001) requires that certain seafood products on sale must indicate:

·Commercial names of species according to a list drawn up by each Member State.

·Information on the method of production such as ‘caught at sea’, ‘caught in freshwater’, ‘farmed’ or ‘cultivated’.

·Where seafood was caught or in the case of products caught in freshwater or farmed, and the country of origin of the product.