One regulatory fork sits at the center of this page: catfish and all other Siluriformes are regulated by USDA FSIS. Every other seafood product is regulated by the FDA. That split changes which inspection mark appears on the label, which establishment or registration number unlocks enforcement data, which species-naming rules apply, and which residue-testing regime tests for banned aquaculture drugs. FAT scores the fork explicitly on every seafood label.

---

The Three Steps of a FAT Seafood Score

Step 1 — What Is Disclosed

FAT checks each of 16 transparency categories and marks it Known, Partial, or Missing.

#	Category	What Step 1 looks for on a seafood label
1	Regulatory Required Language	FSIS inspection legend and establishment number (catfish / Siluriformes) or FDA processor registration and HACCP compliance mark (all other seafood). Wrong agency or no mark is scored as Missing.
2	Species Identity	Common name and scientific name verified against the FDA Seafood List. "Catfish" is legally restricted to Ictalurus spp.; Vietnamese tra and basa cannot carry that label in the U.S.
3	Strain / Variety / Stock	Farmed: species strain (channel catfish, Atlantic vs. Pacific salmon). Wild: stock or population if disclosed. Functional equivalent of Breed in the meat model.
4	Country / Origin	Country of harvest or production under COOL (7 CFR Part 60). Seafood COOL also requires disclosure of production method (wild or farmed) alongside origin.
5	Farm / Vessel / Fishery	Named farm and location (aquaculture) or vessel name, registration, home port (wild-caught); specific fishery or water body of origin.
6	Processor	FSIS establishment number (catfish) or FDA facility registration number (other seafood). The number determines which enforcement dataset is queried in Category 13.
7	Production Method & Feed	Wild-caught vs. farm-raised (mandatory under COOL). For wild: fishing gear and bycatch. For farmed: aquaculture system and feed composition. Wild-caught receive N/A for feed; farmed receive N/A for gear.
8	Animal Welfare	Stocking density, slaughter method, live transport. Missing is the norm in seafood — scored as a disclosure gap, not a violation.
9	Quality & Handling	Fresh / frozen / previously frozen disclosure; USDA grade (catfish); glaze percentage; added water. Labeling previously frozen product as fresh is a regulated violation.
10	Dietary Attributes & Additives	Phosphate glazing (STPP), added water, preservatives, colorants; allergen statements; dietary claims (keto, paleo, no additives). Phosphate glazing inflates net weight and must be declared but frequently is not.
11	Medicine / Antibiotics / Chemicals	Antibiotic claims; banned residues (malachite green, nitrofurans, chloramphenicol) in imports; FDA refusal history; FSIS residue testing (catfish).
12	Age at Harvest	Grow-out period (farmed) or harvest season (wild). Rarely disclosed — Missing is expected on most labels.
13	Enforcement & Compliance	FSIS enforcement (catfish) or FDA import alerts, SIMP compliance, HACCP violations (all other seafood).
14	Environmental Impact	MSC / ASC / BAP certifications; bycatch and gear impact; EPA ECHO violations; NPDES discharge compliance. Website only.
15	Economic Concentration / Foreign Ownership	Corporate parent (Thai Union, Mowi, Vietnamese processors, Maruha Nichiro); market share; integrator vs. independent. Website only.

Scoring at Step 1:

• ✔ Known — clearly disclosed. Example: "Wild-caught, MSC Certified, North Pacific Alaskan Pollock, F/V Northern Glacier."
• ◑ Partial — present but vague. Example: "Wild-caught" with no fishery, vessel, or certification named.
• ✕ Missing — not addressed. A gap, not an accusation.

Step 2 — How Credible Is the Disclosure

The four credibility tiers are the same as the meat methodology — only the named programs change.

• Third-party audited — Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for wild-caught; Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) for farmed; Global GAP for aquaculture welfare. Weight 1.0×.
• USDA-reviewed / FDA-reviewed — COOL-compliant country-of-origin under 7 CFR Part 60; USDA FSIS catfish inspection mark; FDA Seafood List–compliant species name; FDA HACCP plan on file. Weight 0.7×.
• Producer-affidavit — documented at the producer or vessel level but without independent or agency audit. Weight 0.4×.
• Unverified marketing — "sustainably sourced," "ocean-fresh," "responsibly farmed," "natural" without a named standard or certifier. Weight 0.1×.

Step 3 — Who Stands Behind the Label

FAT surfaces the seafood accountability chain on every label:

1. The processor — FSIS establishment number (catfish) or FDA facility registration (other seafood), and the public enforcement record attached to that processor.
2. The brand owner — the legal entity that owns the brand on the package.
3. Beneficial and foreign ownership — most large U.S.-distributed seafood brands are owned by foreign processors: Thai Union (Thailand), Mowi (Norway), Maruha Nichiro (Japan), Cooke (Canada), Cermaq (Japan, via Mitsubishi).
4. Economic concentration — concentration in the relevant species and gear/farm system.

See the Step 3 deep dive below.

---

The FAT Score

Same machinery as the meat methodology — two equal pillars, 0–100 composite, A–F grade.

Pillar 1 — Disclosure (0–50 points)

FAT evaluates all 15 seafood categories. Each category earns points based on disclosure status:

• Known — full credit (1.0×)
• Partial — partial credit (0.4×)
• Missing — no credit (0×)

Pillar 2 — Credibility (0–50 points)

• Third-party audited — full weight (1.0×)
• USDA-reviewed / FDA-reviewed — strong weight (0.7×)
• Producer-affidavit — moderate weight (0.4×)
• Unverified marketing — low weight (0.1×)

Grade Scale

Grade	Range	Meaning
A	80–100	Comprehensive disclosure, strongly backed claims
B	65–79	Good disclosure with solid credibility
C	50–64	Moderate disclosure or mixed credibility
D	35–49	Limited disclosure or weakly backed claims
F	0–34	Minimal disclosure, little or no verification

---

Color-Coded Results

• ● Green — fully disclosed and third-party audited or government-audit confirmed.
• ● Amber — partially disclosed, or USDA/FDA-reviewed / producer-affidavit only.
• ● Red — not disclosed, or unverified marketing only.

---

Step 3 Deep Dive — Who Stands Behind a Seafood Label

The Siluriformes Exception

Catfish and all other Siluriformes (Vietnamese tra, basa, swai, the entire Pangasiidae family) are regulated by USDA FSIS — not FDA. Congress moved Siluriformes from FDA to FSIS in the 2008 Farm Bill, fully implemented in 2017. That makes catfish the only seafood product that carries a USDA FSIS inspection legend and a USDA establishment number, and the only seafood product whose enforcement data sits in the same FSIS datasets as beef, pork, and poultry.

This matters at four points on a label:

• Category 1 — catfish must carry an FSIS mark; all other seafood must carry an FDA facility registration.
• Category 2 — "catfish" as a marketing name is restricted under FDA Seafood List rules to Ictalurus species. Tra, basa, and swai cannot legally be labeled "catfish" in the U.S., though enforcement is uneven.
• Category 6 — the establishment number unlocks FSIS enforcement records for catfish; FDA registrations unlock FDA import alerts and SIMP records for everything else.
• Category 11 — FSIS tests catfish for banned aquaculture drugs (malachite green, nitrofurans) under the National Residue Program; FDA tests imports through OASIS sampling.

Wild-Caught vs. Farm-Raised

U.S. seafood COOL requires producers to disclose method of production (wild or farmed) alongside country of origin. The split changes every downstream category:

Category	Wild-caught	Farm-raised
5 — Source identity	Vessel name, registration, home port, fishery	Farm name, country, growout location
7 — Method	Gear type (longline, trawl, gillnet, pot, hook-and-line); bycatch profile	System (pond, raceway, net-pen, RAS); feed composition
11 — Chemicals	Mercury and contaminant load relevant to the fishery	Antibiotic use; banned aquaculture drug residue testing
14 — Environmental	Bycatch rate, gear impact on seafloor habitat, fishery management status	Effluent discharge (NPDES), feed sustainability, escape and disease impact on wild populations

FAT does not treat wild as inherently better than farmed or vice versa. The two systems have different risk profiles and different verification regimes; the FAT Score rewards disclosure and verification within each system on the same scale.

Seafood Brand Lookup — Who Actually Owns Your Seafood

U.S. seafood brands are dominated by foreign-owned processors. A small number of corporations sit behind a long list of consumer brands.

• Thai Union (Thailand) — Chicken of the Sea (US), King Oscar, John West (UK), Petit Navire (France). World's largest tuna processor.
• Mowi (Norway) — formerly Marine Harvest. World's largest Atlantic salmon producer; owns Mowi and Ducktrap River brands in the U.S.
• Maruha Nichiro (Japan) — owns Alyeska Seafoods, Westward Seafoods, Premier Pacific Seafoods in the U.S. Alaskan pollock and crab processing.
• Cooke Inc. (Canada) — owns Wanchese Fish Company, Slade Gorton, True North Seafood, Cooke Aquaculture USA. Atlantic salmon and wild seafood.
• Cermaq (Norway, via Mitsubishi Corp., Japan) — major farmed salmon producer; supplies multiple U.S. brands.
• StarKist — owned by Dongwon Industries (South Korea).
• Bumble Bee Seafoods — owned by FCF Co. (Taiwan) since 2020.

FAT records the ultimate parent for every seafood brand on every score. The accountability chain is part of the public record on Category 15.

FDA Import Alerts and SIMP

For non-catfish seafood, FAT pulls two FDA datasets at Category 13:

• Import Alerts — FDA can issue Detention Without Physical Examination (DWPE) for shipments from specific processors or countries with documented residue or contamination problems. Active import alerts are public.
• Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) — covers 13 priority species (including tuna, shark, swordfish, blue crab, abalone, red snapper, grouper, sea cucumber, dolphinfish/mahi-mahi, king crab, Atlantic cod, Pacific cod, sardines). SIMP requires importers to report harvest, landing, and chain-of-custody data at entry, and to maintain records for two years.

FSIS-regulated catfish runs through the meat enforcement protocol — recalls, residue violations, humane handling, quarterly enforcement reports — exactly as described in the meat methodology.

---

Seafood vs. Meat — Where the Scoring Differs

#	Meat Category	Seafood Equivalent	Key Difference
1	USDA / FSIS Required Language	Regulatory Required Language	Catfish = FSIS; everything else = FDA. Wrong mark = Missing.
2	Species	Species Identity	Seafood adds scientific name verification against the FDA Seafood List.
3	Breed	Strain / Variety / Stock	Same concept, different vocabulary.
4	Country / Origin	Country / Origin	Seafood COOL requires production method (wild/farmed) alongside origin.
5	Farm / Ranch	Farm / Vessel / Fishery	Wild-caught has no farm; vessel + fishery serve the same function.
7	Feed	Production Method & Feed	Wild = N/A for feed, scored on gear. Farmed = N/A for gear, scored on feed.
9	Quality / Palatability	Quality & Handling	Seafood adds fresh / frozen / previously-frozen disclosure.
10	Dietary Attributes	Dietary Attributes & Additives	Seafood adds phosphate glazing (STPP) and added-water disclosure.
11	Medicine / Antibiotics / Hormones	Medicine / Antibiotics / Chemicals	Seafood adds banned aquaculture drug residues; no hormone category.
13	FSIS Enforcement Protocols	Enforcement & Compliance	Catfish = FSIS dataset; other seafood = FDA import alerts + SIMP + HACCP.
14	Environmental Impact	Environmental Impact	Seafood adds bycatch rate and gear-type habitat impact.
15	Economic Concentration / Foreign Ownership	Economic Concentration / Foreign Ownership	Thai, Vietnamese, Norwegian, Japanese, Korean ownership dominates U.S. seafood, vs. Brazilian and Chinese ownership in meat.

---

Sources & Framework References

• FDA HACCP for Fish and Fishery Products, 21 CFR Part 123
• FDA Seafood List (Acceptable Market Names)
• USDA FSIS Inspection of Fish of the Order Siluriformes (9 CFR Parts 530–561)
• NOAA Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP)
• USDA AMS Country of Origin Labeling for Fish and Shellfish (7 CFR Part 60)
• FDA Import Alerts and Detention Without Physical Examination (DWPE)

---

🥩 How FAT Scores Meat Labels → — the same three-step framework applied to beef, pork, chicken, turkey, and lamb, with the full Step-3 deep dive on FSIS enforcement.

See FAT Seafood Scoring in Action

Download the FAT App and scan any seafood label to get the full evaluation — disclosure status, credibility tiers, and enforcement records — all in one place.

Get the FAT App · FDA Seafood Enforcement Lookup · Seafood Research Library

Last reviewed: May 2026