How We Source
Traceable, legal, and packed in New York.
Here's how caviar gets from the fish to your door. No vague "sustainably-sourced" language — specific processes, permit numbers, and verifiable facts.
Why all serious caviar is farmed
Wild sturgeon populations collapsed in the late 20th century due to decades of overfishing across the wild sturgeon fisheries. In 1998, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) listed all sturgeon species under protection. Wild Beluga, Osetra, and Siberian sturgeon are now either endangered or critically endangered in their original ranges.
Commercial wild caviar effectively doesn't exist anymore. What you can buy legally — and what we sell — is farm-raised caviar from aquaculture facilities that breed sturgeon in controlled conditions, typically 7 to 15 years before harvesting for roe.
Any vendor claiming "wild caviar" today is either selling illegally harvested product or lying about the source. Ours is farm-raised, legal, and CITES-permit-tracked to the tin.
Our partner farms
Just Caviar sources from a small number of European and Chinese aquaculture partners. Italy is the world's largest producer of farmed sturgeon caviar — the country pioneered the modern aquaculture industry in the 1970s and now supplies a meaningful share of the global market. France, Poland, and Germany also operate significant facilities. Chinese aquaculture has scaled substantially over the past decade and produces caviar at quality levels comparable to European production.
Each farm operates under national fisheries regulations and international CITES protocols. Sturgeon at these facilities:
- Mature in low-density pens over 7 to 15 years (species-dependent)
- Feed on regulated, traceable diets — no antibiotics as growth promoters
- Are harvested using no-kill or low-stress methods where species permits
- Carry individual CITES permits documenting their origin
We don't publish specific farm names for commercial reasons, but every tin can be traced back to its source lot through the CITES permit number printed on the base.
The CITES code on your tin
Every sturgeon caviar tin in the world (legally sold) carries a CITES code. It's printed on the bottom label and follows a standard format. Here's how to read ours:
| Species | CITES code | Latin name |
|---|---|---|
| White Sturgeon | TRA | Acipenser transmontanus |
| Siberian Sturgeon | BAE | Acipenser baerii |
| Osetra | GUE | Acipenser gueldenstaedtii |
| Kaluga Hybrid | SCH × DAU | Acipenser schrenckii × Huso dauricus |
| Beluga Hybrid | HUS × RUT | Huso huso × Acipenser ruthenus |
Hybrid species carry two codes reflecting both parent species. This is the standard international designation.
The journey from farm to your door
Harvest
At partner farms. Sturgeon mature 7–15 years. Roe is extracted, lightly salt-cured on-site using the malossol method (3–5% salt by weight), and sealed into tins within hours.
Export
Sealed tins travel refrigerated to the US. Each shipment carries CITES export documentation. FDA reviews the shipment on entry — our supplier relationships are pre-approved under the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP).
Iconik Foods facility, New York
Our FDA-registered facility receives, inspects, and cold-stores incoming tins at 28–32°F. Every lot is quality-checked before being added to our inventory. Tins sit in refrigerated storage, never room temperature.
Packed to order
When you place an order, the specific tins are pulled from cold storage, packed with gel ice packs in insulated thermal packaging, and sealed. Orders ship the next business day after the cut-off — never pre-packed.
Overnight delivery
Ships overnight to the 48 contiguous US states. Monday–Thursday only — we don't ship for weekend transit. If the tin arrives warm, we replace it. Email info@justcavi.com within 24 hours with photos.
What "sustainable" actually means here
The word "sustainable" is overused in food marketing. For aquaculture sturgeon, it has a specific meaning: farming practices that don't deplete wild stocks, maintain water quality standards, and operate within international regulations.
Our partner farms operate under:
- CITES compliance — every export documented, every tin traceable
- National fisheries regulations — EU or Chinese frameworks, depending on the farm
- Pen-density limits to reduce stress and disease
- Feed traceability — protein sources documented, no forbidden antibiotics
- Wastewater treatment before discharge
We don't claim our caviar is the most sustainable food on earth. Farming any animal for food has environmental trade-offs. We do claim it's harvested under verifiable international standards, traceable to source, and doesn't impact wild stocks — which is all you can reasonably ask of any seafood in 2026.
TASTE THE STANDARD
The Introduction — 30g each of Osetra, Kaluga Hybrid, and Siberian. All CITES-tracked, FDA-packed in New York. $229.
SHOP THE INTRODUCTION →