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VERIFICATION COMPONENTS
Regular and periodic audits and spot checks are
conducted to ensure compliance with TTVP regulations.
Audits –
The NMFS's Tuna Tracking
and Verification Program (TTVP) conducts formal periodic audits of a
company’s documentation and procedures associated with programmatic regulatory
requirements, including examination of documents and records of internal
flows of specific shipments from receipt to cold storage to production and to finished
goods at a U.S. tuna cannery.
The most recent TTVP audit of a major US tuna cannery was conducted
on June 29, 2011, and it was determined that the traceability of
product meets TTVP's programmatic requirements
U.S. Consumers should continue to maintain a high degree of confidence in the integrity
of dolphin-safe labeled tuna products they purchase in the U.S. markets.
Spot Checks –
Retail market spot check audits of
canned/pouched tuna products are regularly made throughout the country in order to verify
the authenticity of the dolphin-safe label and/or to verify the product has been imported
into the United States legally. After an individual item has been purchased on a random
basis, the importer or distributor is then requested to supply the necessary documentation
to substantiate their dolphin-safe claims.
In March 2011, TTVP staff conducted its most
recent spot check by purchasing 10 samples of the following brands:
Bumble Bee, Callipo, Chicken of the Sea, Great Value (pouch), Ottogi,
Pacifico Azul, Special Value, Starkist, Van Camp's, and Wild Planet.
All samples, with the exception of the Great Value pouch and Ottogi,
were labeled as dolphin-safe. However, documentation review revealed
that all ten samples were eligible to display the dolphin-safe logo in
the U.S. marketplace.
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