Seafood Forever® Program
Our Seafood Forever® sourcing responsibility program represents nearly three decades of investment in the future of our people, our planet and our seafood.
At Aqua Star, we know the future of our industry relies on producing seafood in a responsible manner. Aqua Star sets strict internal standards that include a Supplier Code of Conduct (SCOC), to which all of our supplier partners must adhere. While the exact definition of responsibility is always evolving, our current SCOC addresses the following issues: Human Rights, Carbon Accountability, Environmental Protection, and Animal Welfare. We work with all facets of our supply chain to support our supplier partners to ensure they are implementing best practices and continually improving their sustainability performance. These standards represent our decades-long dedication to the long-term health of the local environments and economies in which we operate – and to the well-being of the people and communities who depend on them.
Our Seafood Forever® program is based on four pillars we view as critical to contributing to this long-term health: Social Responsibility, Environmental Responsibility, Traceability, and Food Safety and Quality. Providing the Seafood Forever® assurance demonstrates Aqua Star’s ongoing commitment to responsible sourcing and to meeting the needs of our valued customers.
Environmental Responsibility
Aqua Star knows that Carbon Accountability is a key part of environmental responsibility. We are active participants in multiple programs (e.g. Project Gigaton) that allow us to calculate the Scope, 1, 2, and 3 emissions associated with our products.
Aqua Star also recognizes the importance of having a deforestation commitment, given historical concerns regarding mangrove removal, as well as soy used in the feed of aquaculture seafood production. Although 97% of soy used in feed is not associated with deforestation, Aqua Star has committed to ensuring our supply chains are conversation and deforestation free by 2026.
A wide range of Aqua Star seafood products are certified as environmentally responsible by certification programs that have been approved by the Global Seafood Sustainability Initiative (GSSI), including fisheries certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Certified Seafood International (CSI), and farmed seafood by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and the Global Seafood Alliance Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP). A variety of our products are recommended by leading non-profit ratings programs such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program and Ocean Wise. We are also actively engaged with other initiatives, such as the Community Catch program.
Aqua Star participates in industry roundtables convened by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, as well as the Social Risks in Seafood Consortium.
Social Responsibility
Aqua Star recognizes the importance of Human Rights Due Diligence and is constantly working to integrate it into our supply chains. Our SCOC is based on a range of initiatives, including: Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code, Social Responsibility Assessment Tool, Seafood Taskforce, and numerous other inputs that our sustainability team engages. Aqua Star aims to foster an environment where equal opportunity is assured to people of all genders, ethnicity, religion, and disability in our company and supply chain.
Our SCOC addresses issues such as fair wages, hours of work, responsible recruitment, child and forced labor, discrimination, including supporting women’s equality, worker grievance, freedom of association, freedom of movement, and worker health and safety. Suppliers undergo third-party social audits to demonstrate compliance with our SCOC, and we work with our suppliers to help them continuously improve. Our SCOC is reviewed constantly to make sure it addresses the most important issues in this evolving space.
Traceability
Aqua Star adheres to a comprehensive traceability model to prevent illegal, unregulated and unreported seafood from entering our supply chains. We are members of the Global Dialogue for Seafood Traceability (GDST) and have committed to adopting GDST into our supply chains.
Our wild capture products are traceable through each harvest area, vessel, catch method, and all points of processing and distribution. Aquaculture products are traceable from the feed source, hatcheries, farms, and all points of processing and distribution. Aqua Star holds Chain of Custody certifications from the MSC and ASC, and are engaged with the Global Seafood Alliance to collaboratively strengthen the BAP program reporting requirements.
Food Safety & Quality
Aqua Star recognizes the importance of ensuring quality and maintaining health benefits in our seafood products. We have a vast network of quality control teams worldwide who work hand-in-hand with our corporate quality assurance teams working to ensure our products are safe and healthy.
- Our quality Aqua Star production facilities undergo regular third-party audits to guarantee FDA HACCP compliance and meet the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked standard.
- Supporting the Chill Killing of farmed products and /or stunning where available.