How do you confirm participants’ products do not contain marine animal ingredients? Can you explain the verification process at the farm and point of sale?

Verification in the F3 Fish Farm Challenge has two main components:

1. Feed verification: Participants submit a feed sample (2 kg) for third-party testing (including isotopic and qPCR analysis) to confirm it contains no marine animal ingredients.  Participants should also save feed at various stages of growth, in case further verification is requested.
2. Fish product verification: F3 representatives may make anonymous point-of-sale purchases in approved markets. In order to do so successfully, the farm needs to label or package the fish distinctively so that the F3 representatives can identify the fish being sold, and purchase the fish anonymously.  To perform that task, the farm needs to notify the F3 Team regarding where the fish is available for sale a month in advance.  After purchase, the F3 team will test the fish tissue using multiple methods (e.g., DNA, isotopes, fatty acid/lipid profiles, and several other analyses) to evaluate diet history and confirm compliance.