Seafood Industry Australia (SIA), peak-body for the seafood industry, has been awarded $267,000 by the federal government to enhance traceability for Australian seafood.
This project is one of 14 to receive funding under Round 2 of the federal government’s Traceability Grants Program. The investment will boost export opportunities and strengthen consumer assurances in seafood products, according to minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management David Littleproud.
“With this funding, Seafood Industry Australia will develop a closed loop ‘trust mark’; a visually recognisable label for packaging that can be scanned with a smartphone, like a QR code,” Littleproud explained.
“This will indicate to consumers that the product they’re buying is 100 per cent traceable Australian seafood, which they can verify digitally.”
The technology will improve opportunities to access international markets and promote Australian seafood locally, according to assistant minister for Forestry and Fisheries Jonathon Duniam.
“By deploying these trust marks, we can verify our Aussie seafood in the domestic market and shore up our brand overseas,” Duniam said.
“Unfortunately, seafood is a market where fraudulent products can significantly devalue our exports, but new advancements like this will help our seafood industry to better use traceability and sustainability to set their product apart from the rest.
“This new technology will also ensure Australians can easily identify home-grown seafood, which will boost our Great Australian Seafood, Easy As, campaign that was created by Seafood Industry Australia with our $4 million investment.”
The grant is a chance to build Australia’s reputation as a provider of quality seafood, both domestically and internationally, according to Seafood Industry Australia CEO Veronica Papacosta.
“We’ve been working on building brand awareness within Australia of our Great Australian Seafood, and now it’s time to turn our focus to international markets,” Papacosta said.
“We’re starting with a pilot program to build and test the technology. We’re hopeful it will then be rolled out to the entire industry.
“Importantly, this is technology that can be used by other industries outside of seafood. Greater traceability for Australian produce will underpin confidence in brand Australia in export markets. We are grateful for the continued support of the federal government.”
The federal government is investing $7M from 2019-20 through to the end of 2022-23 in projects under the Traceability Grants.