Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) – Country Risk Scorecards
Global
What is it?
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is an independent, international non-profit organization that manages a leading certification and labeling program for responsible aquaculture.
Together with their partners, they run a program to transform seafood farming globally and promote the best environmental and social aquaculture performance towards environmental sustainability and social responsibility.
- For assessing ingredients at the Ingredient Manufacturer level, it is the country in which processing and production (the factory) took place.
- For assessing plant-based ingredients at the raw material production level, it is the country in which the plant was produced or grown.
- For assessing marine ingredients at the raw material production level, the flag state of the species caught is used. If the flag state is not known, use the fishing area to identify the possible flag state(s) and then select the country with the highest risk score.
What is it?
The ASC Country Risk Scorecards are one of the Due Diligence pathways used to determine the risk level for the sourcing of ingredients in the ASC Feed Standard.
The scorecards are a tool that classifies legal, social, and environmental risk factors associated with the sourcing and processing of aquafeed ingredients into low, medium, and high risk for the country, at both the raw material and ingredient manufacturing level.
Each country’s legal, social, and environmental risk rating – at both the primary raw material and ingredient manufacturing level – is derived from a consolidated assessment of multiple internationally recognised indices and ranking bodies.
Individual index scores are weighted and combined using a defined methodology that is benchmarked to reflect their relevance to ASC Feed Standard risk areas. The resulting composite score is then categorised as low, medium, or high risk.
If the ASC Country Risk Scorecard pathway does not result in a permitted risk level for an ingredient, the feed mill must use another pathway until a permitted risk level is demonstrated; otherwise, the mill cannot source from that supply chain.