World’s first fully traceable tilapia goes on sale

Trapia Malaysia Sdn Bhd will be exhibiting the world’s first fully traceable tilapia in the Malaysia pavilion at this year’s International Boston Seafood Show. Fillets and vacuum packed samples will be on display at Booth 951.

Called trapia – ‘traceable tilapia’ – the fish, which is cage-raised on Lake Temenggor in the north of peninsular Malaysia, is processed locally and exported as deep-skinned IQF fillets weighing 3-5, 5-7 and 7-9oz. These will be offered for sale to retailers, foodservice operators and club stores in the USA and Canada by International Food Consultants, the Montreal, Canada-based seafood importer and marketer

The trapia farm, which is fully integrated with its own onsite hatchery, is EU-approved and has also received the Best Aquaculture Practices Certificate from the Aquaculture Certification Council. It will produce 20,000 tonnes of trapia when operating at full capacity later this year and there is the potential to double that production with the development of a second grow-out site on the lake in 2013.

Trapia is one of two stocks of farmed fish that are trialling the Genopass DNA profiling system which verifies the origin of the fish with absolute certainty. ‘By taking a small tissue sample from any part of the fish, or fillet, and genotyping it, we can verify whether that particular fish comes from our farm,’ says Morten Høyum, president and CEO of GenoMar, the Norwegian company which developed Genopass as a brand protection and verification tool.

‘Once determined, the DNA profile of the sampled fish can be traced right back through the value chain to the correct parent panel, even at the stage of consumption. The DNA profile does not alter unless the fish is boiled for a long time; freezing and filleting do not harm DNA.
‘The DNA profile of the parent panel of a Genopass accredited farm is unique and is not shared by any other offspring, even those of the same species from the same hatchery,’ he adds.

‘A few samples per container would be enough to verify if the label tells the true story. Conventional documentation traceability methods are vulnerable to tampering. Sometimes the label does not even correctly describe the species inside, not to mention the country of “real” origin.’

Trapia Malaysia Sdn Bhd is a partnership between GenoMar which owns 70% of the company, and Dalefin Holding Sdn Bhd of Malaysia which owns the remaining 30%. The company has been farming Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in salmon-style cages in Lake Temenggor, a man-made reservoir, since 2008.

Contact:
Finn Hentze,
Processing Manager
Trapia Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.
789874-V
No. 2, Jalan Taman Kinta, Chateau Garden
30250 Ipoh
Perak Darul Ridzuan
Malaysia
Email: fihe@trapia.com.my
Web: www.trapia.no
Phone: +60 57173900
Cell: +60 195908787