---
id: KB-AL-017
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/food-and-beverage/fishmongers-where-each-piece-comes-from
idioma: en
categoria: sector-alimentacion
subcategoria: pescados
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-AL-009, KB-GL-020]
citadoPor: [KB-AL-019, KB-AL-029]
---

# Fishmongers: where each piece comes from

_The counter mixes what the box kept apart. What you must be able to say about each piece is decided on receipt, not at the sale._

**Responde a:** traceability in a fishmongers · fresh fish labelling requirements · where the fish i sell comes from · documentation accompanying fish

Fish arrives in boxes, each with its label and its data. On the counter it is laid out by species and size, which is how customers ask for it. Between those two things there is a jump: the box knew where each piece came from and the counter no longer does, unless someone wrote it down along the way.

## What you must be able to say about each piece

| Detail | Where it comes from |
| --- | --- |
| Which species, with its scientific name | The box label |
| Where it was caught or farmed | The same, and not always the supplier's location |
| Whether it is wild-caught or farmed | The same |
| Whether it has been frozen | The delivery note and your own handling |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> **Traceability is not lost at the counter: it is lost when the boxes are emptied.** While the box is intact, everything is on its label. The moment the goods move to a tray, the information exists only if someone copied it somewhere. So the recording happens on receipt, with the box in front of you, not at the end of the day trying to reconstruct what was in each tray.

## Two things that complicate the counter

**En corto**

- Mixing two different deliveries of the same species in one tray: from then on they cannot be separated.
- Defrosted fish sold as fresh: the most closely watched point, and you must be able to show what was what.
- Pieces that are cut or prepared: they still carry the whole piece's origin.
- And stock set aside for an order: without its label behind it, it becomes anonymous.

> [!WARNING]
> A confusion that costs money with suppliers: **the commercial name and the species are not the same thing, and several different species are sold under one popular name**. If the box arrives with the commercial name and nothing else, the detail you will be asked for is missing. It is not bureaucratic detail: it is what lets you respond when an alert affects one specific species and not the one you thought you were selling.

> [!NOTE]
> What information must accompany each fishery product, how it must be presented to the consumer and which records must be kept is set by the applicable rules, and varies for fresh, frozen, processed or retail sale. **Your adviser or health authority settles that**; here we explain where it breaks in practice.

**Do I have to keep the box labels?**

Keep at least their information. It is the source of everything else.

**What if I mix two deliveries of the same species?**

Then the piece belongs to both, and an alert affects all of it.

**Can defrosted fish be sold?**

Yes, but identified as such. It is among the most closely watched points.

## Ejemplos

**Boxes are emptied in the morning and by mid-afternoon nobody knows which delivery is in which tray.**

- Records the label information on receipt, with the box in front of them

→ Every tray can say where it came from with nothing reconstructed.

**An alert arrives affecting one species and the delivery note carries only the commercial name.**

- Requires the scientific name from the supplier on every delivery

→ Whether you are affected is known in minutes rather than after asking and waiting.

**Two different deliveries of the same fish get mixed in one tray.**

- Keeps deliveries apart while possible and records it when they merge

→ An incident is contained to one delivery instead of the whole counter.

**A box arrives and its origin is not recorded.**

- Records the origin on receipt

→ The fact exists when somebody asks.

**The counter mixes pieces from two intakes.**

- Records which intake supplied each display

→ You can say where each piece came from.

**A customer asks about what they bought yesterday.**

- Checks what was recorded that day

→ You answer from the record.