CITES
The sturgeon, a protozoan from the age of the dinosaurs, has survived more or less unchanged up to modern times. Only mankind, with its abundant river engineering and appetite for the valuable eggs, has brought the sturgeon to the edge of extinction. In 1998, in order to forestall the full extinction of sturgeons, CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) decided to place all sturgeon types worldwide under the protection of the Washington Species Agreement. Today, caviar found from non-breeding stock is completely illegal. Moreover, the route of goods for caviar is now fully documented: this means that every tin can be tracked back to its country of origin, enabling distinction between legal and illegal goods.
Since 2006, all caviar tins must be marked with an identification code. This conforms to EU Regulation 865/2006 and the specifications of the CITES Directives, and it cannot be removed without causing damage. This code confirms that the caviar originates from legal breeding facilities.
When buying caviar, it is important to understand the label with the code on the back of the packaging. It enables you to inform yourself about the sturgeon type, its origin, the country of origin, the year of production, the producer, the lot and possible repackaging