Title: Traceability system of fish products - legislation to implementation in selected countries

In January 2002, Regulation (EC) 178/2002 was adopted as the General Food Law of the European Union (EU). In this Regulation, a new requirement on Traceability of food and feed, food and feed-producing animals, and substances intended to be incorporated into food and feed was introduced for the first time for universal application through out the Union. The Regulation also requires the countries exporting the above products to be able to ensure the conditions, which are at least equivalent to those set by the Union in terms of food safety and traceability. In the same year, the US Parliament passed the Bioterrorism Preparedness Act, with a section requiring the maintenance of records for foods. This Act gave the US Food and Drug Administration the right to regulate detailed requirements to the records system. Both of the above systems caused concern in the food industries, especially those dependent on food export. Many of them were not ready for such a system. The enforcement date of traceability requirements of these two markets are from 2005. As a food product category, fish and fishery products are also covered by the above regulations. Therefore, this paper is an intensive study on current requirements of food/fish product traceability in the EU and its member states, and the U.S. legislations, before looking at the availability of fish products traceability in both legal and practical terms in Iceland and Vietnam. In comparison with the Icelandic fisheries industry, the situation of fish production in Vietnam makes implementation of traceability more difficult.