Food from the ocean is key to provide nutritious food with a smaller climate footprint than land-based food production. It is a triple win: for People, for the Planet and the Economy. Our big goal is to unlock the potential of the ocean to produce more food for a growing world population in a way that respects our planet and allows local communities to flourish while offering consumers products that are tasty, healthy and of the highest quality.
Independent third-party sustainability and food safety certification of our operations according to science-based, rigorous and robust certification schemes, is key to achieving our goal.
View 2023 Certification Table (PDF, 184 KB)
Global Seafood Sustainability Initiative
Mowi’s Certifications Policy (link) states that 100% of our annual harvested salmon volume, i.e. all Mowi farming units – freshwater and seawater farms – must be certified according to sustainability standards recognised by the Global Seafood Sustainability Initiative (GSSI): ASC, GSA BAP and/or GLOBALG.A.P.
GSSI works in close partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and its member states, since its inception to operationalise and champion internationally agreed guidelines and instruments in the seafood sector. It is therefore a recognised body that has developed a global benchmark tool to provide a formal recognition of seafood certification schemes that successfully complete a rigorous and transparent benchmark process, underpinned by the FAO Guidelines.
Standards are evolving and changing over time, therefore it is important the work of GSSI which benchmarks the different standards.
Global Food Safety Initiative
Mowi’s Certifications Policy also states that all our primary and secondary processing plants must be certified according to a food safety standard recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), such as IFS, BRC, SQF, FSSC, ISO 22000, GAA BAP processing standard).
GFSI aims to improve food safety and business efficiency. GFSI’s work in benchmarking and harmonisation fosters mutual acceptance of GFSI-recognised certification programmes across the industry and enables a simplified “once certified, recognised everywhere” approach. This reduces inefficiencies from duplication of audits and helps reduce trade barriers. The GFSI Benchmarking process is now the most-widely recognised in the food industry worldwide. The Benchmarking Requirements are based on internationally-recognised standards such as ISO and Codex Alimentarius. They form a shared and widely-accepted understanding of what constitutes a robust food safety certification programme.
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), an independent not-for-profit organisation that aims to be the world’s leading certification and labelling programme for responsibly farmed seafood. The ASC’s primary role is to manage the global standards for responsible aquaculture, which were developed by the WWF Aquaculture Dialogues.
The ASC works with all stakeholders involved in aquaculture to:
- Recognise and reward responsible aquaculture through the ASC certification programme and seafood label
- Promote best environmental and social choice when buying seafood
- Contribute to transforming seafood markets towards sustainability
Mowi continues to be a leader on ASC certification, having by the end of 2021 a total of 133 farming sites certified worldwide. This represents 50% of all our farming sites and accounts for 33% of all the ASC certified Atlantic salmon sites worldwide, reaffirming that we are the leading producer of ASC certified farm-raised salmon.
The previous limitation from the ASC standard to certify farms using smolts originating from freshwater lochs has been lifted and therefore we are rolling out ASC certification of our Scottish salmon farms as well.
We continue our ASC certification efforts in order to deliver ASC certified salmon to clients who have selected this certification scheme; all our MOWI Pure salmon is and will continue to be ASC certified.
GLOBAL G.A.P.
GLOBALG.A.P. is a brand of smart farm assurance solutions developed by FoodPLUS GmbH in Cologne, Germany, with cooperation from producers, retailers, and other stakeholders from across the food industry. These solutions include a range of standards for safe, socially and environmentally responsible farming practices. The most widely used GLOBALG.A.P. standard is Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA), applicable for fruit and vegetables, aquaculture, floriculture, livestock, and more.
GLOBALG.A.P. covers the entire production chain from feed to fork, and to have a certified product, all the different parts of the value chain need to be GLOBALG.A.P. certified.
The GLOBALG.A.P. Aquaculture Standard sets strict criteria for:
- Legal compliance
- Food safety
- Workers’ occupational health, safety and welfare
- Animal welfare
- Environmental and ecological care
GSA BAP
The Global Seafood Alliance (GSA) is an international, nonprofit trade association dedicated to advancing responsible seafood practices through education, advocacy and third-party assurances. As part of the GSA, Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) ensures aquaculture is done responsibly through its third-party certification programme. Each step in the production chain – hatcheries, feed mills, farms and processing plants – can be BAP certified.
The BAP standards set criteria for:
- Food safety
- Environmental responsibility
- Social accountability
- Animal health and welfare
