Aquarius Fish Labelling System
Seafood traceability software and weigh-labelling: compliant labels with catch area, production method and lot number on every box.
Aquarius Solutions For Labelling and Packing of Fish and Seafood
Traceability and Labelling in the Seafood Industry
In the UK seafood industry traceability and labelling are key legal requirements.
Traceability means that fish and seafood can be traced all the way from where it is sold to consumers all the way back to where it was caught.
The legal requirements also include labelling, which must be accurate and clearly legible. This encourages safe handling practices and introduces supply chain accountability from boats in the sea all the way to supermarket shelves and restaurant plates.
General Labelling Requirements
All seafood must be labelled with the following information to be sold to retail consumers:
- Product name (e.g., Atlantic halibut)
- Scientific product name (e.g, genus hippoglossus)
- Use-by date
- Quantity
- Storage requirements (e.g., keep refrigerated)
- Name and address of packer
Traceability Requirements
Requirements for traceability apply to the entire distribution and supply chain for seafood products. This begins at the boat and ends with the consumer and the information must be ready for the relevant authorities if requested.
Although legislation can vary slightly depending on the catch location, such as in EU waters vs UK waters, the bottom line is all seafood that is not imported or processed product must be traceable and labelled to be sold to UK consumers.
This includes:
- The name of the fishing vessel (or aquaculture unit)
- Food & agriculture organisation (FAO) species code
- Lot number
- Date of catch, or dated period over which caught
- Catch area
- Production method
ACSS's Aquarius software system automatically assigns products the correct traceability information by printing labels with barcodes. Scanning them fetches the legally required traceability information and ensures your business is compliant and not at risk of penalties.
Practical guide: What must go on a UK fish label? covers every item consumers must see, what has to travel with each lot, and the most common mistakes.
The hardware: see the weigh-label workstations, label printers and handheld scanners that ACSS supplies and supports.
Useful Fish & Seafood labelling information references
Aquarius Fish & Seafood Software System
Benefits of System Core Module:
- Before implementing Aquarius, most customers are reliant on hand written weights being typed into accounts software and one customer was still handwriting invoices and using mental arithmetic to calculate totals.
- The boxes that the fish are despatched in had customer names, product and weights handwritten in crayon. This was time consuming and error prone.
- The core module takes away any manual data entry, handwriting sales orders and eliminates the need to write down weights of fish processed in the factory and the additional data entry that requires.
- Labels are printed that are stuck to the fish boxes.
- The software ensures that all orders are correctly prepared and picked for each customer, the automatic printing of despatch/delivery notes along with automatic invoicing enables a much more efficient process with delivery drivers able to get away from the depot much faster.
Core Module Features:
- Link to and from the Customers accounting software.
- Customers
- Stock Items
- Sales Order Processing
- Factory processing of Sales Orders
- Sales Invoicing
- Enquiries and Reports
- Bespoke Invoice stationary format(s), label formats(s)
- Posting of Sales Invoices back to accounting software.
Additional Software Modules:
- Purchase Order Processing including Goods In.
- Filleting Module.
- Supermarket Packing.
- Scallops.
- Scanner Despatch.
- Hand Grading.
- EDI integration.
- Link to third party web based ordering Apps, including Fresho & Orderlion along with integration with customer web ordering sites.
Systems
Fish and Seafood factory systems for order processing management controls.
Labelling
Weigh-labelling systems for fish and seafood with data capture and traceability recording.
Processing
Fish and Seafood processing systems for increased labour and yield efficiencies.
Packing
Packing stations with bar-coding and traceability recorded boxes into the stock system
Common questions
What traceability information can Aquarius print on a label?
Aquarius prints barcoded labels carrying the legally required traceability information: the fishing vessel or aquaculture unit, FAO species code, lot number, date of catch, catch area and production method, alongside the product name, use-by date, weight and storage details.
Does it help with the Fish Labelling Regulations 2013?
Yes. Aquarius assigns the correct traceability information to each product automatically when it prints the label, which helps you comply with general food safety law and the Fish Labelling Regulations 2013.
Will the labelling hardware survive a wet factory?
Yes. The systems use industrial-grade components with 316-grade stainless steel enclosures and are designed for IP69K ingress protection, so they stand up to salt, moisture and washdowns.
Can Aquarius print GS1-128 barcodes?
Yes. Labels can carry GS1-128 barcodes alongside the traceability details, so customers and supermarkets can scan them straight into their own systems.
Can we design our own labels?
Yes. Label layouts are built in Aquarius by dragging fields such as product, species, weight, batch, dates and catch details onto a template, so you can set up a layout for each product or customer.