In the Europe Union, it is mandatory for a seller to indicate where the food is coming from. If fish were caught in international waters, should we consider its origin as the closest country or the ship's flag?
1 Answer
If fish were caught in international waters, should we consider its origin as the closest country or the ship's flag?
Neither. The rules in the united-kingdom (which is no longer in the EU, but I assume they are comparable as they have not been substantially changed since leaving) are:
Fish caught at sea
You must label all fish caught at sea with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) catch area.
You must also label fish caught in the Northeast Atlantic, Mediterranean or Black Sea with:
the name of the FAO sub-area or division
a map or pictogram of the catch area
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Then if we find fish labeled to a specific country (Salmon from Scotland or Shrimp from Venezuela, etc.) it is fair to say they come from national waters?– AlixLApr 9, 2021 at 9:25
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1Possibly, but also look further down on the "rules" link in my answer for the requirements of Freshwater, Farmed, and Mixed Products fishing.– user35069Apr 9, 2021 at 9:29
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1I looked at the rules in france (economie.gouv.fr/dgccrf/consommation/Etiquetage-des-produits/…). I can confirm they are exactly the same as in the UK. It seems there is no way to verify the exact origin of fish caught at sea. At best we have a clue of the origin using the FAO map. Thank you very much for your help.– AlixLApr 9, 2021 at 15:09