Seafood distributor Santa Monica Seafood has received Best Aquaculture Practices certification for its Rancho Dominguez, California facility.

The company is also the first and only seafood company in the US to achieve both the internationally recognised FSSC 22000 certification for food safety management systems and ISO 14001 certification for environmental management programs.

“Our recently refurbished and expanded 120,000 square foot Rancho Dominguez main processing facility is now a BAP certified processing plant for repacking salmon and tilapia products,” said Roger O’Brien, CEO. “We are proud to be one of only 14 seafood plants in the US that are BAP certified as a repacking plant.”

The BAP certification program addresses every key element of responsible aquaculture, including environmental responsibility, social responsibility, food safety, animal welfare, traceability and more.  BAP standards encompass the entire aquaculture production chain, including farms, processing plants, hatcheries and feed mills.

Mr O’Brien indicated that while the Global Aquaculture Alliance issues one to four star BAP certifications, Santa Monica Seafood qualifies for certification only as a processing plant, as it has no farm, hatchery or feed mill operations.

Santa Monica Seafood is the largest specialty wholesale distributor of fresh and frozen seafood in the southwestern US, with its corporate offices and main processing facility located in Rancho Dominguez, California. The company has seven additional seafood processing and distribution facilities and also owns and operates two retail stores which specialise in seafood and seafood related products.

Courtesy of WorldFishing.net