CASE STUDY ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TRACEABILITY AND THE DECISION TO BUY FISHERY PRODUCTS

Carmen Georgeta Nicolae, Monica Paula Marin, Elena Pogurschi, Gratziela Victoria Bahaciu, Liliana Mihaela Moga, Magda Nenciu

Abstract
   According to the Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, food business operators are responsible to achieve the relevant requirements for food safety. Aquaculture, fishery, processing and distribution of fish and fishery products should be carried out respecting and ensuring food safety and quality conditions. Implementing a traceability system significantly reduces the exposure to the economic food chain, guarantees food safety, transparency and increase consumer confidence. In this regard, the study was undertaken based on the questionnaires applied to aquaculture operators and future specialists in the field. According to the results, the main benefits that the company may achieve by implementing a system of traceability of quality are: improving management quality and safety of production, improving company's image and increasing the company's role in the supply chain (100% totally agree). The main barriers of a traceability system for aquaculture are considered to be the high cost and the lack of policy encouraging (87.50% strongly agree). According to the future specialists in the field, the decision to buy fishery products (agree, strongly agree) is less influenced by price (50.89%) and more by storage conditions (86.61%). The results of this study may serve as information material for fishery product traceability system.

Key words: fish, food chain, food safety, products, traceability