Quality at SFM
Sydney Fish Market is Australia’s seafood centre of excellence and strives for the highest levels of quality and customer satisfaction.
FOOD SAFETY
Quality Assurance System
Sydney Fish Market is Australia’s seafood centre of excellence and strives for the highest levels of quality and customer satisfaction.
Sydney Fish Market introduced its Quality Assurance Program, incorporating the hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) system in 1998. Since then Sydney Fish Market has worked to ensure all products sold through SFM’s wholesale auction and all meals prepared at Sydney Seafood School adhere to this process.
Sydney Fish Market’s Quality Assurance Program and HACCP system are designed to ensure that seafood sold by Sydney Fish Market is:
- Safe to eat
- Accurately labelled
- Satisfies the customer
The system is externally audited every six months against the internationally recognised ISO 22000:2018 Food Safety Management Standard by accredited auditors, BSI.
SFM has a QHSE department with specialised, trained staff who monitor and implement improvements to the Food Safety Management System, the Workplace Health and Safety System (AS/NZS 4801:2001) and the Environmental Management System (ISO 14001:2015).
The Food Safety Management System is backed up by several support programs:
- Personal hygiene policy
- Good handling practices
- Segregation policy
- Calibration
- Cleaning
- Pest control
- Maintenance
- Training
Seafood Handling Guidelines
Sydney Fish Market (SFM) is Australia’s seafood centre of excellence and strives for the highest levels of quality and customer satisfaction.
All suppliers to SFM are required to comply with our Seafood Handling Guidelines. These Guidelines are a clear representation of not only the key methods of storage and handling of seafood, but what buyers value when purchasing product through the Market.
By consistently following the practices suggested in this manual, suppliers can ensure correct size grading, improved freshness, and longer shelf life for their seafood, allowing them to command premium prices in the marketplace. Buyers can also use this guide to understand quality standards, regulations, handling and storage requirements.
Australian Fish Names
Sydney Fish Market is a proud supporter of the Australian Fish Names Standard (AS 5300-2019). Since June 2005, Sydney Fish Market has incorporated the Australian Fish Names Standard into its operations. In March 2007, the Australian Fish Names List became an Australian Standard. The standard:
- Prescribes one standard fish name for each species of fish produced or traded in Australia
- Includes agreed names for over 600 commercially important domestic and imported species, and over 5,000 other domestic finfish
- Was approved by Standards Australia as an official Australian Standard in 2007
- Was developed by the Australian Fish Names Committee.
The Standard specifies that:
- Fish sold to consumers (e.g., retail sales and restaurants) must be identified by their standard fish name.
- Fish sold other than directly to consumers (e.g., wholesale, export, import) must be identified by their standard fish name or scientific name.
The need for standard fish names:
- Accuracy of trade descriptors and labelling
- Public and consumer confidence
- Efficiency in seafood marketing
- Effective fisheries monitoring and management
- Sustainability of fisheries resources
- Effective traceability and food safety management
- Industry viability and profitability
The Australian Fish Names Standard is funded and hosted by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.
The development and maintenance of this standard is the responsibility of the Fish Names Committee and comprises representatives from key seafood industry stakeholders (seafood producers, marketers, retailers, wholesalers, restaurants, seafood processors and importers), government and world’s best fisheries taxonomists and fisheries scientists.
End users and the general public are also consulted widely on applications under consideration by the Fish Names Committee.
For further information on The Australian Fish Names Standard and/or to access the Fish Names Database, please visit FRDC’s Fish Names website.