The Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) has announced a range of new measures to help the seafood industry move to full, global digital transparency.
As part of these changes, the GDST will move by the end of the year from a platform convened by the WWF and Institute of Technologists in 2017 to a permanent, independent entity led by inaugural executive director, Greg Brown.
“WWF is proud to have helped initiate and lead the GDST through its formative stages,” said David Schorr of WWF. “Now the time has come for the GDST to be more formally organised as a permanent, industry-led entity standing on its own feet.”
Technical updates
Key to accelerating the pace of this digital transformation is an update to the GDST standards and the release of the first GDST mechanism for verifying IT systems. GDST 1.1 includes revisions to improve consistency of the standards and a redefined communications standard to ensure that GDST-compliant systems can connect automatically.
“Having a way for companies to prove their systems are capable of computer-to-computer interoperability will further enhance the value of GDST implementation,” said Bryan Hitchcock of the Institute of Food Technologists, Global Food Traceability Center.
Greg Brown said that the new changes reflected the GDST’s progress and momentum. “Around the globe—in Asia, Europe, and the Americas—uptake of the GDST standards is going strong and gathering speed,” he said. “We are calling on companies around the world and across the seafood supply chain to join us in this important new chapter in the GDST’s development.”
