How to read a caviar label

On the back of each caviar tin, there is (by law) a label called “CITES”, which is basically an ID of the caviar’s origin. Most of the information you need is on this label: you can read the species of the sturgeon, the country it was farmed in, the year it was harvested and the lot number to trace the caviar.

1. Standard species code :

The code is the 3 first letters of their species latin name, so that you know which species the caviar comes from.

Here are the main ones:

• Beluga : HUS (huso huso)

• Oscietra : GUE (acipenser gueldenstaedtii)

• Siberian Caviar: BAE (acipenser baerii)

• Sevruga : STE (acipenser stellatus)

• You can find the complete list here

Exception:

You can come across hybrid species, in this case there will be 2 species in the code, separated by an “x”. Example: GUExBAE

2. Source code of the caviar :

That’s very simple, it says whether the sturgeon was caught in the wild (W) or in captivity (C). Nowadays the wild caught caviar is forbidden so you’ll only see “C”.

3. ISO Code for country of origin :

The country where the caviar was extracted, it’s also usually where the fish was farmed.

4. Registration code of the processing plant:

For an original tin, it’s the number of the laboratory where caviar was extracted.

For a repacked/retail tin, it’s the number of the facility where the caviar was repacked.

5. Lot identification number

It’s the number given by the producer, that will allow the traceability of the tin. With that number you can trace when the tin was packed/repacked, and which sturgeon it came from.

Any caviar consumer should be able to read a caviar label. I often see caviar tins that are purposely mislabeled, to cheat the consumer. But by reading the CITES you can make sure that you’re having what you payed for. Typical example would be to call a caviar “Beluga”, which should be the species huso-huso (HUS), but when you turn the tin around you realise that it’s a hybrid species “HUSxBAE”.

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