FMI, NFI Create Forms to Improve Seafood Buying Process

FMI–The Food Industry Association and the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), one of the largest  seafood trade associations in the U.S., have created new resources designed to standardize the seafood buying process and improve efficiency.

The fillable forms for retailers and wholesalers allow organizations to indicate their product requirements and enable seafood suppliers to consolidate their communication, the organizations said in a joint release.

The goal, they continued, is to streamline and standardize the language and specifications for each seafood species to help suppliers comply and fill orders.

“For a seafood buying office, one of the first major career challenges can come in understanding the various specifications for various seafood products,” said Rick Stein, VP of fresh foods for FMI. “Indeed, buying offices may vary from organization to organization. Different buying offices create multiple ways of describing what buyers actually want. The suppliers are often caught up trying to interpret each organization’s requirements.”

The forms created by FMI and NFI aim to alleviate such issues. Currently, forms are available for shrimp, scallop and snow crab, while additional forms are being developed for salmon (farm-raised and wild-caught) and finfish