Posted 15/07/2022

Source Certain is proud to announce that it is the Conference Partner for this year’s 2022 Seafood Directions conference. Seafood Directions is the premier seafood industry conference in Australia, hosted by Seafood Industry Australia. 

Source Certain has been working with the Australian seafood industry for a number of years, delivering industry-wide provenance science programs. These programs have been designed and implemented to protect the integrity of Australian seafood and support transparent and trusted seafood supply chains.

Cameron Scadding, Managing Director, comments on the decision to partner with the conference this year, “This is a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase some of the work that we have done and the partnerships forged with the Australian seafood industry. We are proud of this work and want to celebrate and support this great industry. Consumers care where their food is from and are more and more engaged with their food and food chains. We bring a science that verifies the ‘where’, which is almost always linked to the ‘how’. For seafood, the source often comes with a promise of sustainability and that’s why provenance matters.” 

“Seafood Industry Australia and the Seafood Directions Conference are proud to announce Source Certain as the Conference Partner for this year’s conference,” SIA CEO Veronica Papacosta said. 

“Unfortunately, seafood is a market where fraudulent products can significantly devalue our products and our exports, strong partnerships with traceability solutions providers like Source Certain will help our industry to better use, understand and implement provenance science programs, and set our products apart from the rest.”

Source Certain’s technology analyses markers (trace elements, isotopes, chemicals and molecules) that are absorbed into food from its environment. The combination of these markers can differ significantly even within short distances. As the pioneers of provenance science, Source Certain has refined its methods over a 40-year period to be able to differentiate between sources that are relatively close together, like fisheries, farms or fish ponds.

This information is captured and can be represented as a pattern like a fingerprint. This can be referenced to verify the origin claims of seafood sampled within the supply chain. For example, whether a retail purchased seafood product came from its claimed certified sustainable fishery.

Scadding says that, “There has been much reported on substitution rates or fraud in the food chain and specifically around seafood. Often these stories represent small sample sets and are presented in a way to shock and expose rather than present a solution. We work with our clients, often industry groups, to support them to understand what is happening inside their supply chain and fix it. We help our clients build supply chains that their consumers can trust.” 

Exact substitution rates in Australia are unknown and often unreported as there have been limited tools available to accurately identify the product origin. However, the growing interest in provenance science demonstrates the importance the industry places on ensuring consumers get what they pay for when they buy Australian seafood.

Seafood Directions is being held in Brisbane, Queensland and runs 13-15 September 2022.