MarinTrust CoC Standard ensures:

  • Full traceability and integrity of the MarinTrust certified products, which are responsibly sourced and produced
  • No Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishery materials are used
  • Pure and safe products are further processed under a robust Quality Management System, demonstrating freedom from potentially unsafe and illegal materials
  • Only MarinTrust compliant product is labelled as MarinTrust.
MT Value Chain

Why become certified?

While contributing to responsible sourcing in the value chain, a MarinTrust CoC certificate provides to your company with:

  • Full traceability of ingredients which are pure and safe products, from non IUU sources, and responsibly sourced and produced.
  • Access to markets where there is a growing demand for certified marine ingredients, such as aquafeed, health supplements, petfood, and animal feed.
  • Greater assurance in your processes and ensures best practice.

Benefits for your customers

  • Access to certified marine ingredients with confidence in the integrity and traceability of the supplied marine ingredients.
  • An efficient supplier approval and monitoring system, as it can also rely on a company that is audited annually by a third party.

Latest developments (March 2026)

Following the launch in 2020, MarinTrust has worked to continiously improve the CoC Standard V2.0, with a lengthy accreditation process beginning with the Irish National Accreditation Body (INAB), during which several refinements were made that strengthened the Standard's guidance and procedures. These changes formed the basis of Version 2.1, developed as a revision of V2.0 rather than a full update. This revision is being released following the achievement of ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation in February 2026, with V2.1 introduces refinements to enhance clarity and practicality for certificate holders while maintaining the Standard's original intent, further validating its robustness and reinforcing confidence in responsible supply chain assurance.

Eligibility requirements

An applicant facility must:

  1. be involved in primary/secondary processing, storage, or trading activities of certified MarinTrust marine ingredients and (if available) marine ingredients from the MarinTrust Improver programme
  2. ensure that the facility is legally licenced in the country of operation
  3. provide evidence that they can satisfy the following minimum entry criteria for the scope under certification:
  • Food safety certification - relevant third-party safety/quality certification, as applicable for facilities / businesses handling food or feed
  • Social accountability - meet the requirements of the national regulatory authorities that oversee their operation
  • Environmental accountability - meet the requirements of the national regulatory authorities that oversee their operation
  1. sign a disclaimer stating that the audit is limited to the CoC requirements

Key Documents:

Transition to Version 2.1

The MarinTrust Chain of Custody Standard Version 2.1, issued in February 2026, comes into effect on 1 May 2026. With minor enhancements to guidance and procedures for the Standard, including removal of derogated clauses and frequency of data reporting to clause 2.4 from quarterly to annual, this change is a revision. A short review period of one-month will apply from 1 April 2026, allowing stakeholders to review and understand the revisions before certification activities against the revised Version 2.1 begin from 1st May 2026. No certification activities will be conducted against Version 2.1 during the review period.

Certification activities against V2.1 will begin from 1st May 2026 where the transition period starts. A summary of the transition for current certificate holders and new applicants is outlined below. Further detailed information on the changes and transition requirements from V2.0 to V2.1 and are outlined in the transition guidance document.

Current certificate holders

Recertification:

  • All applications submitted on or after 1st May 2026 must be against Version 2.1

Surveillance:

  • All audits scheduled on or after 1 May 2026 must be conducted against Version 2.1

New applicants

  • Applications submitted on or after 1st May 2026 shall be against V2.1
  • From 1st April 2026 application to V2.0 will not be permitted
Transition