TESCO REQUIREMENTS FOR SUPPLIERS

Aquaculture Requirements – Tropical Prawn Standard

No: 74 Version: 4 Date: February 2014

Countries & Associated Businesses which apply these requirements

UK ROI HU PL CZ SK CN KR TR MY TH US
Y N N N N N N N N N N N

Group Food Group International Clothing Dobbies One-Stop NutriCentre

Procurement
N N N N/R N/R N/R N/R
N = No N/R = Not Relevant Y = Yes Y? = Yes with differences

Scope:
The production of tropical prawns Penaeus monodon and Litopenaeus vannamei used in Tesco U.K. farmed fish
products.
The whole chain from brood stock to slaughter inclusive.

Policy statement

Tesco aims to be associated by its customers with high standards of animal welfare and best industry practice in its supply
base. We will deliver this commitment on the basis of the up to date knowledge of animal welfare science, ethics and
legislation.

Contents

How to use this document 2

Other documents that should be referred to in support of the policy 3
Audit Requirement 3
Tesco Production Data – P. monodon 5
Tesco Production Data – L. vannamei 10
Outcome Measures 15
Outcome Measures Reporting Form 18

How to use this Document

This purpose of this document is to document the species specific data required for the production of tropical prawns,
which will satisfy customers expectations with regard to high standards of animal welfare, food safety, food quality,
environmental concern and value for money and give them trust in Tesco products. It is a base document against which
Tesco will carry out its own auditing requirements and will need to be used in conjunction with the generic documents.

It is the responsibility of the Tesco supplier of any farmed fish species to be aware of this document and ensure that the
supply chain it uses is aware of this and other relevant documentation. It is the responsibility of the Tesco direct supplier
to ensure compliance to this document through its own due diligence monitoring in line with the requirements of the
Tesco Food Manufacturing Standard, and through monitoring done by the aquaculture company involved.

As a result of auditing against this standard, either by Tesco or Tesco suppliers, and the submission of outcome measures
aquaculture companies will be given a BRAG score. It is a Tesco expectation that all outcome measures and audits are
BRAG green or better and Tesco suppliers must be working with aquaculture companies to ensure that this is the case.
The principles set out in the “Aquaculture Requirements – effective corrective actions (TTL 471)” must be followed where
this is not the case. The aim is the elimination of problems not temporary fixes.

In all cases it is the application of strong, good active management, appropriate training against strong and correct SOPs
coupled with regular review that is key to delivering the high welfare standards demanded in law, by Tesco and its
customers. Competent, diligent stockmanship is also recognised as a key factor in good livestock welfare.

Up to now industry has been focusing on absolute standards. However Tesco recognise that there are many examples of
excellent farming practices and businesses within our supply base, and because of this going forward Tesco wish to focus
on communicating the ‘outcomes’ to the supply chain which consumers find acceptable, but which allow all suppliers to
develop their own systems for achieving these targets. This allows innovation, benchmarking and sharing of best practice
to drive improvements in the area of fish farming and better meet customer expectations on sustainability, animal
welfare and finished product quality. The system also ensures continuous improvement through regular review of the
targets. Therefore these are now a major part of the Tesco requirements and their completion and submission on a
period basis is key in ensuring that Tesco requirements are met and that product statements designed to sell more
product can be made based on sound data. It also allows Tesco to carry out meaningful Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
reviews with suppliers.

Within this document term “generic LCOPs” or “LCOPs” are the relevant documents (TTL numbers 460, 465, 469 – 477
inclusive, 481) listed below in the section “Other documents that must be referred to in support of the policy”.

Aquaculture Requirements – Tropical Prawns Standards

No: 74 Version: 4 Date: February 2014
Page 2 of 8
Any questions concerning this document should be sent to Sheelagh.Johnson@uk.tesco.com

Other documents that should be referred to in support of the policy

Aquaculture Requirements - Slaughter Operations TTL: 460

Agriculture Requirements - CCTV for Monitoring Animal Welfare TTL: 465
Aquaculture Requirements - Pond Operations TTL: 470
Aquaculture Requirements - Transport Standards TTL: 471
Aquaculture Requirements - Hatchery Standards TTL: 472
Aquaculture Requirements - Outcome Measures TTL: 474
Aquaculture Requirements – Effective Corrective Actions TTL: 475
Agriculture Requirements - Feed Mill Operations TTL: 476
Requirements for the responsible sourcing of wild caught fish used in the manufacture
of fishmeal and fish oil for inclusion in compound feeds TTL: 477
Agriculture Requirements for Suppliers - Approved Schemes TTL: 481

Audit Requirement

The generic requirement for the auditing of any tropical prawn company on the approved list is set out below.

Where 1 or more parts of the chain are not undertaken by the company listed on the approved list these will be excluded
from being audited if they are likely to be covered under the audits for another member on the approved list but all
companies using the facility must be aware of the issues and take responsibility for ensuring conformance.

Open Water
Category Hatchery * Pond Operations Transport Slaughter
Operations

Aquaculture Requirements – Tropical Prawns Standards

No: 74 Version: 4 Date: February 2014
Page 3 of 8
Penaeus monodon    
Litopenaeus
vannamei
   
* includes brood stock

It must be remembered that operations may be relevant to more than one process e.g. transport applies to eggs, fry,
young fish, fish for harvest, companion fish etc.; open water operations may apply to brood stock and fish for
consumption.

Tesco Production Data – L. vannamei

Parameter White Leg Shrimp

Aquaculture Requirements – Tropical Prawns Standards

No: 74 Version: 4 Date: February 2014
Page 4 of 8
 L. vannamei
Value Frequency
Environment Norms
pH 6.0 - 9.0 Daily

pH (transport) 6.0 - 9.0 per transfer, start & end

Dissolved O2 (all points of life except ova & >/= 4mg/L increasing to >/=
Daily
including transport) 5mg/L by May 2018
start & end or 2 x daily if > 24
O2 saturation during transport > 90%
hours
Not required as long as pH is
Dissolved CO2 (transfer only) monitored & remains within per transfer
normal limits

Secchi disk visibility (prawns only) 30 - 60cm Weekly

Temp. until hatching 27 - 29oC Daily (hatchery) OK

Temp. until first feeding 27 - 29oC Daily (hatchery) OK

26 - 33oC, low temp. variance is
Temp. finishing Daily
key (larvae to harvest)

per transfer - start & end

Temperature transport – (eggs) 24 - 26oC (nauplii)
(hatchery) OK

Temperature transport – (PLs) 20 - 26oC per transfer - start & end

Un-ionised ammonia (prawn larvae/juveniles) by

< 0.1 mg/L Weekly (hatchery) OK
calculation from total ammonia nitrogen

Un-ionised ammonia (grow out, brood stock) by

< 0.5mg/L Weekly
calculation from total ammonia nitrogen

</= 5mg/L reducing to 3mg/L

Total ammonia nitrogen (mg/L) Weekly
by May 2018

Aquaculture Requirements – Tropical Prawns Standards

No: 74 Version: 4 Date: February 2014
Page 5 of 8
 White Leg Shrimp
Parameter
L. vannamei
Value Frequency
Handling
Earth ponds: dry in strong sunlight min.
3 days (no rain) or min. 7 days (when
Fallow period between crops each crop
rains). Pond liner: dry in stong sunlight
min. 1 day (no rain), min. 3 days (rain)
Starvation period (pre-handling) (Norm - in
all cases this may be extended under
</= 24 hrs. each time
direct veterinary instruction but this must
be the exception not the rule).

Starvation period (pre-harvest) (Norm - in

all cases this may be extended under
</= 24 hrs. each harvest
direct veterinary instruction but this must
be the exception not the rule).

2:1:1 Ice/Water/Prawns with

temperature no higher than 4oC.
(Ambient temperature must be > 20oC).
Stun & Kill method each harvest
Prawns must be unconscious within 10
seconds. Not accepted after March
2016 – CPP 1:1:1

Feeding behaviour meets norm for species Daily

Welfare/behaviour meets norm for species 2 x day

Ablation in brood stock only. No
Mutilations allowed
accepted after August 2016.
Growth norms -adults used for meat
(excludes broodstock) (feed conversion < 1.5 – CPP 1.7 Monthly
ratio)
Fish in/out ratio < 1.5 per crop
< 0.5% /wk - improved methodology to
monitor mortality must be in place by per crop. Any sign of
Mortality (%/week) excluding pre-swim up
August 2014 – Hatchery nauplii – PL : abnormally high levels needs
fry)
15%/week and Broodstock 3%/week. to be investigated
CPP farms: 2%/week

Aquaculture Requirements – Tropical Prawns Standards

No: 74 Version: 4 Date: February 2014
Page 6 of 8
 White Leg Shrimp
Parameter
L. vannamei
Value Frequency
The need to thin should be
minimised. This will be reviewed
Max. no. gradings allowed thro life August 2014 with a view to remove per crop
totally unless welfare & food safety
can be proved as acceptable.
daily check on behaviour
Photo period manipulations & lighting Allowed if no welfare issue seen
(hatchery)
Escapee measurement per pond @ harvest

Stocking density - nauplii during transport 30,000 nauplii/L per transfer (hatchery) – OK

Stocking density - ova to hatch <4000 eggs/L in hatching tank on stocking (hatchery) – OK

Stocking density 100 - 300 nauplii/L in larval tank Weekly (hatchery) - OK

Stocking density 100 PL/L in post larval tank Weekly (hatchery) - OK

Intensive systems: max. 70 prawns

per cubic meter NB different area unit
Stocking density requirement to monodon – WM Weekly
farm : 80 pcs/m3 and CPB farm : 65
pcs/m3
Semi-Intensive systems: max. 30
Stocking density prawns per cubic meter NB different Weekly
area unit requirement to monodon
Stocking density - brood stock 5 - 10 prawn per square meter Monthly (hatchery) - OK

Min. 1.5m (with aerators); min. 1m  Each crop (middle pond <
Min. pond/cage depth
(without aerators) 1.5m)
1,800-2,500/L for PL10 but will
Stocking density transport immature fish each transfer
depend on size
Stocking density transport adults (including
500 g/10L for broodstock each transfer
brood stock)

Aquaculture Requirements – Tropical Prawns Standards

No: 74 Version: 4 Date: February 2014
Page 7 of 8
 White Leg Shrimp
Parameter
L. vannamei
  Value Frequency
Treatments & Feed    
Malachite green excluded  
Ivermectin excluded  
Quinolones excluded  

3rd & 4th generation cephalosporins excluded  

Nitrofurans excluded  
Chloramphenicols excluded  
Steroid hormones excluded  
No colourant allowed. Pond
base colour however must
feed/flesh levels monitored to
Feed colorants allowed encourage the development of
deliver @ harvest
colour on the salmofan scale
of > 22

excluded for all but head on

Sulphite treatments @ harvest @ farm prawns. Excluded for all August  
2014.

PAP, crustacean derived meal

Feed exclusions
Feed inclusions allowed
Food source for eutrophication
Sex reversal or other hormones
Triploid/polypoid fish
or oil, avian or mammalian
meal or oil, protein from
diseased animals or those with  
potential to cross contaminate.
GM ingredients in organic
feeds.
GM soya or other crops
(excluding organic), non-  
crustacean fish meal or oil
Human waste, untreated
 
animal manure is not allowed
Not allowed  
Not allowed  

Aquaculture Requirements – Tropical Prawns Standards

No: 74 Version: 4 Date: February 2014
Page 8 of 8