Provenance
Where it comes from is everything
One species, one farm, one coastline. The quality of our abalone begins with its origin — and the evidence is there to prove it.
The Species
Haliotis midae, found nowhere else
The abalone we farm is one species only: Haliotis midae, the South African abalone — perlemoen, as South Africa knows it — endemic to this coastline and found nowhere else on earth.
Its meat is considered among the world's most desirable foods — revered around the world, and long served at weddings, banquets and celebrations.
It is at home in the cold, nutrient-rich waters of the Atlantic at the southernmost tip of Africa — the same waters that flow through our farm.
Single Origin
One farm, one source
Abagold abalone is raised in one place: our land-based farm on the Hermanus coast, where 4,000 tanks are supplied with more than 10,000 tons of cold Atlantic seawater every hour.
Each animal begins in our own hatchery, bred from premium selected broodstock and reared through larval, nursery and spat stages. The hatchery produces more spat than we grow on, so only the strongest animals are selected and raised on our land-based farm in Hermanus.
From spawn to harvest, every stage happens under our control. The on-land, tank-based systems we have developed since 1992 — when Abagold was established as South Africa's first commercial abalone farm — enable consistent growth, quality control and traceability across the farming cycle.
The Seal
足金鮑 — the mark of genuine Abagold
The gold ingot bearing 足金鮑 — “pure-gold abalone” — is our product seal. It appears on our packaging and on our verification pages at the moment of confirmation, and it signifies one thing: genuine Abagold abalone, from the water described on this page.
The Water
The ocean, measured continuously
Our abalone live their whole lives in moving seawater, drawn from the Atlantic at the ocean's edge and flowing through the farm without pause.
We uphold rigorous standards in water quality, animal care, biosecurity and food safety — and the water flowing through the farm is measured on an ongoing basis. The readings below come from sensors in our seawater systems in Hermanus: the same water our abalone grow in, measured as you read this.
From our seawater
Water Quality, Measured
Readings from sensors in our seawater systems in Hermanus — the same water our abalone grow in, sampled several times a day.
Last measured: 22 Sep 2026 09:49:19
Patience
Years in the making
There is no hurrying an abalone. Each one is raised for up to five years and beyond, depending on size, in seawater pumped from our rugged coastline onto land, receiving expert care at every stage as it moves through the farm.
We farm in rhythm with the sea. These waters shape the quality of our abalone, while skilled, patient work ensures it is cultivated with care and respect.
The Feed
A diet of our own making
What an abalone eats shapes everything that follows, so we made feed our own business. We began developing feed in-house in 2010, and by 2012 our animals were raised entirely on our own formulations.
In 2014 the feed department became a company in its own right — Specialised Aquatic Feeds — and from a state-of-the-art plant in Hermanus, in operation since 2015, it formulates the diets our abalone are raised on to this day.
Certified
Independently verified
A claim is only as strong as the party who verifies it, so we submit ours to others. Our processing facility is fully GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) and HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) certified, and the operation carries NSF registration, FSSC 22000 food safety certification and the Friend of the Sea sustainability certification, valid to 2028.
Our farms were the first abalone farms in the world to achieve a sustainable certification — independent recognition of the responsibility on which Abagold was founded.
Provable
An origin you can check
Provenance claims are easy to make and hard to verify. TRAFFIC, the wildlife-trade monitoring network, has estimated that the majority of South African abalone reaching Hong Kong is illegally sourced. That is the market our abalone travels in — and it is why we believe an origin should be checkable, not merely stated.
So Abagold packaging carries a QR code that answers with its provenance: the species, the farm, the water it was raised in and the certificates behind it. Anyone holding an Abagold product can see where it comes from.
The provenance pages, by product:
Taste what provenance means
Live, canned and dried abalone from one farm on the Hermanus coast — raised for up to five years and beyond, and traceable at every stage.
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