GOOD AQUACULTURE PRACTICES; THE COLLABORATIVE USE AND BENEFITS

 The Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN) is a collaboration b etween the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the University of Maryland (UM).  JIFSAN has developed an aquaculture program that links food safety and disease prevention . It’s called Good Aquaculture Practices (GAqPs) .  GAqPs are widely used and implemented around the world .  This presentation is a short synopsis on GAqPs and a request for to help take GAqPs to the next level  where it can be universally used and recognized  for a wide variety of purposes.  GAqPs could be used or integrated into new or existing programs to show food safety and disease controls are in place by the following:

• Individual aquaculture farms for their buyers;
• Government s for their farm  and or processor registration and certification programs;
• Private t hird-party certification programs to verify food safety and disease prevention;
• Processors in their HACCP or Preventative Control programs to act as their food safety controls for  aquaculture related food safety hazards;
• Academia to train  future aquaculture professionals in food safety and disease prevention;
• The aquaculture industry and others to  demonstrate to the  general  public that aquaculture products are safe, sustainable, and free of hazardous residues and pathogens.