Pacifical has become the first seafood company to pass the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST’s) Capability Test, demonstrating its ability to capture all data required by the GDST Standard, receiving and transmitting data in the correct formats, and using a standardized communications protocol. Pacifical’s online platform is called “SmarTuna”, an IT system that facilitates optimal visibility, verification, traceability, and certification in sustainable Pacific tuna value chains for all involved stakeholders.
“As promoters of fully traceable sustainably caught tuna from the Pacific Island nations, we see this as a revolutionary development and are enormously proud to be the first organization in the global seafood industry to be recognized as GDST capable,” said Cynthia Asaf, COO at Pacifical. “We want to provide all retailers and tuna supply chain actors, supporting the GDST initiative, the future ability to be able to receive all relevant traceability data from our fully verified sustainable Pacifical tuna, now in the GDST format. We encourage them to join us in our effort in making large scale interoperable traceability a reality.”
“Availability of the first software solutions to earn the ‘GDST-Capable’ logo represents a major advancement for digital seafood traceability,” said Greg Brown, Executive Director of the GDST. “We now have a realistic way for industry to know if software is capable of fully implementing the GDST Standard.” In order for seafood supply chain actors to be able to prove they can reliably receive GDST-compatible data, they will also first need to pass the GDST Capability Test.
Pacifical started this joint partnership with the GDST in 2021 by engaging in a beta pilot for their first-ever testing tool. This was designed to enable automatic computer-to-computer sharing of GDST-compatible data. Without dispute, the beta process was vital to demonstrate the verified capability of the SmarTuna platform to share data according to the GDST framework.
Transparency is key step in preventing illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing practices. Pacifical invites retailers, brands and tuna processors to implement GDST capable traceability in their tuna supply chain to show evidence that each individual end product has been caught and produced sustainably and in a socially-responsible way.
See original press release from the GDST:
https://traceability-dialogue.org/announces-first-gdst-capable-software/
About Pacifical
Pacifical verifies and promotes the catch, production, and distribution of sustainably caught skipjack and yellowfin tuna from the Pacific Island nations. Set up in 2013 by the 8 PNA nations Pacifical has pioneered and enabled the optimal exchange of tuna traceability and verification data also on the blockchain by gathering all relevant fishing, production and distribution data from catch till final delivery of each individual end product. In Oct 2022, Pacifical has successfully passed the capability test demonstrating the verified capability of its IT system to share data within the GDST framework. Pacifical’s SmarTuna online traceability platform facilitates value chain transparency, insights, verification, certification, and compliance to regulations: www.pacifical.com
About the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability
The GDST was organized in 2017 by WWF and the Institute of Food Technologists as an international, business-to-business platform to advance a unified framework for interoperable and verifiable seafood traceability. The GDST brings together companies from around the globe and across different parts of the seafood supply chain. In March 2020, after a multi-year industry-led drafting process, the GDST released the first-ever global standard governing information content and data formats specifically for seafood traceability systems. Learn more at www.traceability-dialogue.org