VeriFish

The sustainability indicator framework to communicate responsible aquafood production and consumption patterns

Despite its potential advantages in terms of climate impact, sustainability, and nutrition, seafood is frequently disregarded or lumped together with meat. The potential benefits of seafood are often overlooked, particularly in the transition towards a sustainable, equitable and balanced protein system. To enable healthy and sustainable choices, consumers need information about sustainability and nutrient values as well as provenance and potential health risks and benefits.

In this context the VeriFish project is providing a framework of verifiable sustainability indicators based on existing EU and global  sources and to make recommendations for how to present and visualise different types of indicators in a uniform manner for a specific seafood type and consumer group. VeriFish will elaborate a framework of verifiable indicators, considering environmental sustainability, social sustainability, origin, provenance, processes, health, and nutrition, leveraging on trustworthy data sources from FAO Global Record of Stocks and Fisheries, EUROFIR’s FoodEXplorer, FISHBASE, the global species database of fish species, and more.

VeriFish is also creating prototype web application, a series of media products and recommendations for communicating sustainability indicators to various stakeholders including guidelines for retail and the hospitality sectors. 

The goal is to provide an accessible and dynamic framework for the improvement of communication and understanding of sustainable seafood production and consumption. 

Our role

Trust-IT Services, as VeriFish Project Coordinator,  coordinates communications with the project partners, ensures progress monitoring, delivery check, and time keeping of project deliverables and milestones, and overlooks at establishing collaborative liaisons with other projects and initiatives at European and international level, ultimately acting as point of contact with the European Commission and its implementing agency CINEA. 

Trust-it and its affiliated entity COMMpla are also actively contributing to the design of the media products, leading the design and development of the VeriFish mobile & web App, and supporting the the project dissemination and outreach campaigns.  

Expected results

• A framework of indicators that can be used as a basis for making verifiable claims about seafood.
• A Community of Practice (CoP) of organisations and stakeholders committed to promoting sustainable seafood.
• A prototype of a web app providing factsheets with indicator lists, links, and recommendations on how to make transparent & verifiable claims about specific types of seafood to specific consumer groups.
• Media products and run awareness campaigns to provide verifiable information on seafood.
• An EU Good Practice recommendation for how to efficiently organise sustainable seafood consumption campaigns, and to publish this recommendation as a CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA)

Expected impact

The VeriFish project addresses the need for standardized, verifiable information on seafood sustainability, nutritional values, provenance, and potential health risks. By offering a comprehensive framework of indicators and guidelines, VeriFish simplifies the complex landscape of seafood consumption. The project includes a prototype mobile app and a series of media products designed to educate and engage consumers, making it easier than ever to make informed, sustainable choices.