MSC Chain of Custody Standard

Certification to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Chain of Custody Standard demonstrates to consumers that your seafood originates from an MSC Fisheries or ASC Farm certified source.

Seafood is the world’s most important renewable food source. Healthy oceans are essential for thriving marine ecosystems, livelihoods and economies around the world. Our oceans are under more pressure than ever from human and environmental impacts. With growing consumer concern over product origin, environmental impact and nutritional value, increased focus is placed on sustainability in the fishery sector. 

What is MSC Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard? 

The standard applies to any market player (individual organizations or groups) with ownership of the product or where the seafood product is transformed or repacked, including wholesalers, processors, retailers, caterers and traders. It guarantees that any product bearing the MSC eco-label is sourced from a certified sustainable fishery. Each member of the supply chain that claims ownership of the product or transforms the product must be certified up to the point of the product entering its final, consumer-ready packaging. 

The MSC CoC Standard is applicable to:

• Wild catch: companies certified to the MSC Fisheries Standard
• Aquaculture: Companies certified to the Aquaculture Stewardship (ASC) standards.  Specific ASC requirements are added to the MSC CoC Standard.

Benefits of becoming certified 

Certification to the MSC CoC Standard enables your organization to: 

• Demonstrate that your products originate from a sustainable source
• Meet consumer demand for product sourcing information
• Ensure a sustainable and secure food chain
• Build consumer trust 
• Support the positioning of your product with the eco-label
• Meet retail demand for verification of sustainably sourced products
• Trade with leading retailers and retail chains that require certification

Use of the MSC or ASC eco-label on seafood products is only permitted where there has been an independent verification against the MSC Chain of Custody Standard and where the company has signed a logo licensing agreement with the scheme owner.

Getting started

DNV is a certification body accredited to provide certification for individual organizations and groups against the ASC Farm Standard, MSC Fisheries Standard and MSC Chain of Custody Standard.  To evaluate the integrity of the chain of custody for relevant seafood and seafood products and their origin, DNV assesses processes, evaluates related records and reconciles product quantity.