Not only does this activity reflect poorly on the industry as a whole but also creates a competitive disadvantage to companies trying to conduct business in a legitimate manner. Slowly the industry is starting to fight back and police itself. For instance, the seafood trade organization, The National Fisheries Institute requires all its members to sign a pledge to abide by all applicable seafood regulations as a condition of membership. Additionally, they have implemented a hotline number called the Better Sea-food Bureau where suspected violators can be re-ported. Unfortunately complaints can only be investigated against member companies. Restaurant operators can also fight back against fraud by cheking labels and buying from reputable suppliers.
As the largest seller of seafood in North America, Sysco has always been the leader in assuring economic integrity with our Portico® lines of seafood products. A plant audit is conducted, which not only encompasses the physical plant inspection but an extensive review of the company‘s policies, procedures and traceability documentation. These plant audits are conducted by a Sysco Corporate Quality Assurance Program Manger.
Sysco also works closely with suppliers to develop, if they do not already exist, Portico quality specifications for the products to be produced. In many cases, a Sysco Quality Assurance representative will be onsite to oversee the first production run of a Sysco brand product. Once in commerce, Sysco continues to conduct routine evaluations of Portico products to confirm compliance with our specifications. In addition to this domestic inspection and verification network Sysco has developed an overseas Point Source Inspection Program (PSIP) whereby selected containers of Portico seafood products are sampled and evaluated prior to shipment to the United States. Any product found to be out of specification is rejected and suppliers can be subjected to an increased inspection frequency.
As you can see, Sysco leads the industry by extending the extra effort to insure the safety, consistency and economic integrity of our Portico products. For more information about Sysco seafood products, please visit www.sysco.com.
