Traceability is not a certificate on a wall. It is a set of specific data points, each attached to a specific lot, each provable from a document. This is what exists and what each one is good for.
The data points
Lot number. The anchor. Everything else attaches to it. A traceability claim without a lot number is a statement of intent.
Production date. When the product was made. Drives shelf life and, together with catch or harvest date, shows how long raw material was held before processing.
Catch date or harvest date. For wild product, when it came out of the water. For farmed product, when it was harvested. This is the field most often missing from offers and most useful when present.
Establishment number. The approval number identifying the plant that produced the goods. Ours is M343, issued under the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. It appears on export health certificates.
FAO fishing area. FAO 27 for the Northeast Atlantic, where Norwegian catches come from. A labelling requirement in many markets. Sub-area and catch position are more informative commercially.
Vessel or farm site. For sea-frozen product, the vessel. For farmed product, the site. Identified per lot.
Gear or production method. Longline, gillnet, danish seine, trawl, pot — or, for farmed fish, marine net pen grow-out.
The documents
Health certificate. Issued per consignment by the Norwegian Food Safety Authority against the destination market’s model certificate. This is the document that admits the goods.
Catch certificate. Issued by the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, evidencing that a wild catch was taken legally. Required under IUU rules for entry to the EU and several other markets.
Certificate of origin. Issued by a chamber of commerce, commonly required for customs clearance outside the EEA.
Packing list. Lot numbers, carton counts, net and gross weights per pallet. The document that lets you reconcile what arrived against what was invoiced.
Chain-of-custody evidence. For MSC or ASC claims.
Specification sheet. Generated for each article with a revision number and date, from the same data as this website.
How to ask so it arrives
Put the requirement in the purchase order, not in a follow-up:
The following to accompany each consignment: health certificate, catch certificate, packing list with lot numbers, specification sheet. The following to be stated per lot on the packing list: lot number, catch/harvest date, production date, FAO area, establishment number.
Documentation requested at order arrives with the goods. Documentation requested on arrival is a reconstruction, and for catch certificates in particular it can be difficult or impossible to produce after the fact.