Overview
ISO 12875:2011 - Traceability of finfish products specifies the information to be recorded in marine-captured finfish supply chains to establish product traceability from catch to retailers or caterers. The standard defines how traded fishery products are to be identified and the information each food business must generate and hold when they physically trade those products. It applies specifically to the distribution for human consumption of captured (marine) finfish and their products.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Scope and purpose
- Traceability for marine-captured finfish across the distribution chain: fishing vessels, landing businesses/auction markets, processors, transporters/storers, traders/wholesalers, retailers and caterers.
- Designed for both paper and electronic record systems (electronic representation encouraged).
- Identification of units
- Trade Units (TUs/UTUIs) and Logistic Units (LUs/ULUIs) must be identified with unique identifiers. Identifiers can be globally unique (e.g., GS1 SGTIN/EPC for TUs, SSCC for LUs) or unique within a defined scope combined with a scope identifier.
- Recording requirements
- Information elements are classified as “shall”, “should”, or “may” indicating mandatory, recommended, or optional data for traceability.
- Businesses that create or transform units must assign new IDs and record links between input and output units so that products can be traced back to a finite set of vessels or catches even when mixing occurs.
- Business-specific requirements
- The standard lists data expectations by business type (e.g., fishing vessels, processors, markets), including identification, recording of catch/transaction data, and dependencies between units.
- Normative references
- Uses ISO 8601 (dates/times) and ISO 3166-1 (country codes) for standardized data representation.
Practical applications and users
Who should use ISO 12875:2011:
- Fisheries and fishing-vessel operators implementing catch recording and labelling.
- Landing sites, auction markets and processors establishing inbound/outbound traceability records.
- Transport, storage, wholesale and retail businesses managing lot identity and product recalls.
- Food safety authorities, auditors and certification bodies for compliance and incident investigation.
- IT vendors and supply-chain software developers building traceability solutions that integrate identifiers (GS1, EPC) and electronic data exchange.
Practical benefits:
- Enables rapid product tracing for food safety incidents and recalls.
- Supports compliance with regulatory and commercial traceability requirements.
- Facilitates interoperability between businesses by standardizing data types and identifiers.
Related standards
- ISO 12877 - Chain traceability for farmed finfish (complements ISO 12875).
- ISO 8601 - Date/time representation.
- ISO 3166-1 - Country codes.
- GS1 identifier systems (SGTIN, SSCC, GLN, EPC) are recommended implementable options but are not mandatory.
Keywords: ISO 12875:2011, traceability of finfish products, captured finfish traceability, trade unit identification, logistic unit identifier, GS1, fishing vessel traceability, supply chain traceability.