Farmed oysters. (Photo: Pacific Seafood YouTube)

Pacific Seafood receives highest BAP certification for its oysters

Pacific Seafood has received the four-star rating of the Best Aquaculture Practices(BAP) for its oysters.

This certification, the highest of the BAP standards, means that it is a product from a BAP certified processing plant, produced on a BAP certified farm, from seeds and farms and feed mills certified by BAP.

The BAP standards for mollusk farms have strict specifications for responsible stocking rates and monitoring of natural feeding processes. Pacific Seafood has proved to follow these standards rigorously, so it has been able to obtain this important designation.

"At Pacific Seafood we are dedicated to providing the healthiest protein on the planet, so it is critical to have BAP validation for our entire oyster supply chain," said Chris Jones, hatcheries operations manager at Pacific Seafood.

The Pacific Seafood oyster processing plant and farm operated by BAP is located in South Bend, Washington, while the certified oyster farm is located in Quilcene, also in the state of Washington.

The company aims to get all of its oysters to obtain four status certification and launch new products with this certification in the market.

Farm mollusks feed on phytoplankton and other natural organisms in the water, since there are specific foods formulated for them. But the BAP standards for mollusk farms require that the cultivation centers control planting densities so as not to exceed the production capacity of the environment. In addition, farms should monitor neighboring benthic communities for mollusks to consume natural organisms without causing negative impacts on sediments. They must also control the surrounding environment to ensure that they do not release potential contaminants that could cause risks to human food safety.

At this moment, there are 37 BAP-certified mollusk farms, which produce up to 56,000 tonnes of product per year. In total, the facilities that have BAP certification reached 1,864 in 2017.

The launch of the BAP standards for mollusks, in May 2016, opened the door to the oyster facilities to obtain BAP certification, since the new standards, which replace the previous ones for the mussel farms, cover all the main species of molluscs cultivated species, among which are the mussel, the viera, the clam and the abalone.

Pacific Seafood Group is headquartered in Clackamas, Oregon, and has 41 facilities in 11 states.

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Address:	16797 Southeast 130th Avenue - PO Box 97
City:	Clackamas
State/ZIP:	Oregon (97015)
Country:	United States
Phone:	+1 503 905 4500
Fax:	+1 503 905 4243
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