Verification Components
The Tuna Tracking and Verification Program (TTVP) conducts regular and periodic audits and spot checks on domestic canners and importers to ensure compliance with TTVP regulations.
Audits
The Tuna Tracking and Verification Program formally conducts periodic audits of a company’s documentation and procedures associated with programmatic regulatory requirements. These audits include examining documents and records of internal flows of specific shipments from receipt and cold storage, to production and finished goods at a U.S. tuna cannery.
In July 2022, the TTVP made a site visit to a U.S. tuna processor and determined that the company's traceability of tuna products met TTVP dolphin-safe requirements.
U.S. consumers should continue to maintain a high degree of confidence in the integrity of Dolphin-Safe labeled tuna products they purchase in U.S. markets.
Spot Checks
The TTVP also regularly spot checks canned/pouched tuna products in retail stores throughout the country to verify the authenticity of the dolphin-safe label and/or to verify that the product has been imported into the United States legally. After randomly purchasing an individual item, the TTVP asks the importer, distributor or canner to supply the necessary documentation to substantiate its dolphin-safe claims.
In October 2019, TTVP staff concluded a retail market spot check. Retail samples of dolphin-safe labeled tuna product were purchased in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. TTVP review of submitted documentation by processors and/or importers verified that the tuna products were eligible to be labeled dolphin-safe in the U.S. marketplace.
The following links provide more information about the spot checks:
*Note: NOAA Fisheries does not recommend or endorse individual private companies or their products.