SUSTAINING CONSUMER CONFIDENCE IN MIDDLE EAST AQUACULTURE SECURED BY TRACEABILITY SYSTEMS

Abstract

In recent years, aquaculture is the fastest growing protein supply for consumers in the Middle East countries. The aquaculture production in the region increased by 111% from 837 247 to 1 768 917 tons between 2005 and 2014. Egypt, Iran and Turkey are the leading countries in aquaculture production but Saudi Arabia, Oman and United Arab Emirates have vast investment plans for future aquaculture projects as the others in the region. Middle East aquaculture still need to grow by nearly 20% to match the regional demand for seafood which is average 12,55 kg fish per capita. This huge necessity for growth raises doubts in regional consumers on the sustainability of aquaculture production In this study, acceptance, progress, and the difficulties in transition to new monitoring system and the prospective contribution of traceability systems on consumer confidence have been investigated in example of Turkey.