Introduction
About ASC
ASC Feed Standard: Introduction
The Power of Seafood
A nutritious protein source and a key component of global food security, 3.3 billion people rely on seafood for at least 20% of their animal protein consumption, and between 400 – 600 million people are directly and indirectly involved with the industry11”UN Fisheries Panel (COFI36): Aquaculture as a solution to food insecurity.
With population estimates of 10 billion by 2050, and with wild caught fisheries at capacity, farmed seafood comprises almost 60% of seafood consumed as its numbers and importance continues to grow11”UN Fisheries Panel (COFI36): Aquaculture as a solution to food insecurity. Care must be taken immediately to limit the industry’s negative impacts.
Responsible seafood farming eases pressure on natural resources, protects precious ecosystems, promotes economic opportunities and addresses food security challenges, caring for seafood, people and the planet. A crucial link in the circular economy, it upcycles multiple by-product streams into much needed high-quality protein.
Our Vision
A world where seafood farming plays a major role in supplying food and social benefits for humanity whilst minimising negative impacts on the environment
Our Mission
To transform seafood farming towards environmental sustainability and social responsibility, creating value across the chain using market mechanisms, improvement incentives and delivering value-added services from farm to fork
Transforming Seafood Farming
ASC is accelerating the transformation of the farmed seafood industry by:
- Championing Change – raising awareness of what needs to change and collaborating to create pathways for the change required to accelerate positive impact on people and planet, fish and farms.
- Making Change – developing and implementing the world’s leading independent certification and improver programmes for responsibly farmed seafood.
Our supply chain partners choose ASC certification for the most robust standards and the highest assurance ensuring traceability and transparency throughout the supply chain. By choosing ASC labelled seafood, consumers in over 100 countries are contributing to a sustainable future.
Making an Impact
The impact of the ASC programmes in the seafood farming industry is substantiated across multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)22For more information on ASC’s SDG work, see https://www.asc-aqua.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ASC-SDG-Report2022-1.pdf.
Simplifying this target framework, ASC contributes specifically to the following areas:
- Conserving Biodiversity
- Addressing Climate Change
- Fostering Fish Health and Welfare
- Improving Lives, Livelihoods and Communities
In addition to the focus of ASC programmes on these key SDGs, the ASC standards contribute to a broader range of SDGs at different levels to address the impacts of seafood farming on fish health and welfare, people and planet.
ASC Certification
ISEAL Community Membership
ISEAL is a global membership organisation for ambitious, collaborative and transparent sustainability systems, that drives collective efforts to tackle the most pressing sustainability issues and create a world where markets are a force for good.
The ASC Certification Programme is ISEAL Code Compliant. The ISEAL Code is a globally recognised framework that defines best practices for effective and credible sustainability systems.
Normative references
The documents listed below are a normative part of the ASC Certification Programme:
- ASC Farm Standard
- ASC Farm and Feed Certification and Accreditation Requirements (CAR)
- ASC Group Requirements for Farms
- ASC Vocabulary
- ASC Data Submission Procedure
- ASC Data Submission Requirements
Additional documents are referred to in Indicators and Appendices of this Standard in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes requirements of this document.
For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
Supporting documents and tools
The documents and tools listed below support the implementation of the ASC Certification Programme:
- ASC Feed Standard Interpretation Manual
- ASC Programme Centre
- ASC GHG Emissions Calculator to support calculations for 1.21
- Various templates
- Data Portal
Certification Programme
The ASC Certification Programme is a voluntary third-party certification programme consisting of the following independent actors:
Scheme Owner: Aquaculture Stewardship Council
As scheme owner, ASC sets and maintains standards and associated assurance documents and their underpinning procedures, as well documents and resources that support the implementation of the Certification Programme.
An overview of all documents and the latest version can be found on the ASC Controlled Document Master List.
Conformity Assessment Body: Provide certification services in accordance with the requirements of this scheme.
The legal entity responsible for the Unit of Certification (UoC), contracts a Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) which employs auditor(s) that conduct an independent conformity assessment (hereafter ‘audit’) of the UoC against the relevant ASC Standard.
The management requirements for CABs as well as auditor competency requirements are described in the CAR document and are assured through accreditation.
Integrity Services Provider and Accreditation Body
The Integrity Services Provider is appointed by ASC to oversee the integrity of the programme.
Integrity services and accreditation are currently provided by Assurance Services International (ASI), however, ASC is in transition to move the accreditation to Accreditation Bodies (AB) signatories to the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) multilateral recognition arrangement (MLA) for product certification, while integrity services will remain with ASI.
Findings of ASI assessments and an overview of currently accredited CABs are available on the ASI website.33http://www.asi-assurance.org/s/
Audit Process
An ASC audit follows strict process requirements. These requirements are detailed in the CAR. Only ASC accredited CABs are allowed to audit and certify a UoC against ASC standards.
As scheme owner, ASC is not involved in the audit or certification decision of a UoC.
As part of the ASC commitment to transparency, all findings, audit reports and certificates are publicly available on the ASC website. These include audit findings that result in a negative certification decision.
Certificate
All ASC certificates are available on the ASC website for verification. Issued certificates are the property of the CAB.
Each certificate specifies the scope (i.e., ASC Feed Standard) and Production Model type (i.e., segregation or mass balance) of the certified UoC.
ASC Label and Claims
ASC-certified entities shall only use the ASC label, claim, and trademarks if authorised through a signed ASC Feed Licensing Agreement.
Unauthorised label display or use of trademarks is prohibited and will be treated as a trademark infringement. For more information see ASC’s Label User Guide or contact licensing@asc-aqua.org.
ASC Assurance Net
The independent actors and processes described above are interlinked to provide the most robust and reliable assurance system, supported by ASC’s transparent processes and stakeholder participation. The CABs conduct strict audits to verify conformity against the ASC standards. ASI assesses the CABs to confirm that certification was granted following the requirements and with integrity. Both CABs and ASI may conduct these activities unannounced, and all the evaluation results are publicly available for interested stakeholders who may provide additional information to the certification process.
ASC has a dedicated and experienced assurance team that develops the certification requirements. Working closely with assurance partners, ASC monitors conformance across the supply chain.
ASC adds another layer of assurance by designing tailored tools that support additional verification of conformity. These tools evaluate the conformance of ASC products in different stages: Antibiotic residues and provenance (TestASC), verification of production cycles and remote sensing (MapASC), and complete tracking of products in the supply chain (TraceASC).
Document Structure and Vocabulary
The ASC Feed Standard is structured as follows:
- Five Principles – each Principle defines a high-level outcome which, collectively, contributes to the ASC Vision.
- A Principle consists of multiple Criteria – each Criterion addresses an impact that is relevant to the aquaculture feed industry.
- A Criterion consists of a Rationale and multiple Indicators.
- The Rationale describes why the issue is of relevance to the aquaculture feed industry.
- Each Indicator describes a requirement. Audits are conducted to determine conformity to indicators, including any referenced Appendices, footnotes or terms.
The ASC Feed Standard also contains:
- Appendices – Appendices are included to provide detail on acronyms, methodologies or requirements.
- Footnotes – footnotes are used to detail exemptions and clarifications to an indicator, as well as for references.
- Terms – defined terms are highlighted in bold when used for the first time. Definitions are listed in the ASC Vocabulary Portal.
Vocabulary use
Intentional language is used in the Standard to ensure clarity in the following areas:
- Modal verbs
- ‘Shall’ denotes a requirement
- ‘Should’ denotes a recommendation
- ‘May’ denotes a permitted course of action
- ‘Can’ denotes a possible course of action
- Exceptions vs. Exemptions
- ‘Exception’ an alternative requirement for a specific circumstance, referenced in the Indicator.
- ‘Exemption’ an exclusion from an Indicator, referenced in a Footnote.
- Appropriate vs. Adequate
- ‘Appropriate’ refers to what is suitable or proper for a particular need.
- ‘Adequate’ refers to what is sufficient to meet a need.
- ‘And’ vs. ‘Or’ in lists
- ‘And’ implies inclusiveness (all items are required).
- ‘Or’ implies exclusiveness (only one of the items is required).
Scope of Standard
The Scope of the ASC Feed Standard (hereafter “the Standard”) addresses key negative environmental and social impacts associated with the (aquaculture) feed industry. Entities (the UoC) certified to the ASC Feed Standard contribute to reducing or eliminating these negative impacts.
The Scope of the Standard is translated into 5 Principles:
- Principle 1 – The UoC has a management system to implement the ASC Feed Standard, including operating legally, and in a socially and environmentally responsible manner
- Principle 2 – The UoC sources ingredients responsibly
- Principle 3 – The UoC accounts for eligible ingredients input and feed output
- Principle 4 – The UoC sources marine ingredients responsibly
- Principle 5 – The UoC sources plant ingredients responsibly
Unit of Certification
The Unit of Certification (UoC) is a feed manufacturer. The ASC Feed Standard does not differentiate between aquafeed manufacturers that produce pelleted or extruded aquafeed, as long as the feed manufacturer and the feed ingredients meet the indicators of this Standard.
For feed manufacturers that produce both aquafeed and other livestock and poultry feed, the ASC Feed Standard applies to the entire facility for Principle 1, whilst Principles 2-5 apply to only the ingredients used for the manufacturing of the aquafeed.
The requirements for certification processes are documented in the CAR.
Scope of Standard
Within each criterion, the applicability is defined in the scope heading.
- Principle 1 – applies to the entire UoC, not only to aquafeeds.
- Principles 2 and 3 – all ingredients that represent >1% of the total annual ingredient-weight (volume) received by the UoC for use in aquafeeds. This percentage refers to a unique ingredient from an individual manufacturer. In case the UoC also produces livestock feed, the received volume shall be based on the ingredient volume destined for inclusion in aquafeed. Excluded are feed additives (per default, regardless of volume limit): premixes, vitamins, minerals, trace elements and colourants.
- Principle 4 – Marine-based ingredients that represent >1% of the total annual ingredient-weight (volume) received by the UoC for use in aquafeeds (as described above).
- Principle 5 – Plant-based ingredients that represent >1% of the total annual ingredient-weight (volume) received by the UoC for use in aquafeeds (as described above).
The ASC Feed Standard addresses the following actors in the ingredient supply chain:
- Feed Manufacturer (UoC),
- Ingredient Manufacturer:
- Commodity trading and transporting companies are not considered as Ingredient Manufacturer
- Primary raw material production.
Relationship between the Standard and applicable law
In the case that an applicable law or collective bargaining agreement is stricter than a requirement in the Standard, such law or collective bargaining agreement will prevail unless such law has become obsolete. In the case that an applicable law or collective bargaining agreement is less strict than a requirement in the Standard, the requirement in the Standard will prevail, unless the requirement is forbidden by law or statute.





