Vietnamese exporters will have to meet the standards on food hygiene set by the Ministry of Fisheries if they want to export their seafood products to Japan, according to a recent Decision signed by Deputy Minister of Fisheries, Luong Le Phuong.
The Decision No. 6/2007/QD-BTS, which will go into effect on July 26 this year, provides critical measures to control the chemical residues in seafood exports and stipulates that seafood exporters will have to have 100 per cent of their exports of crustaceans and mollusks examined for prohibited antibiotic residues.
Enterprises which have had 3 consignments (even prior to the enactment of the decision) determined by Japanese authorities to contain prohibited substances will not be allowed to export consignments of crustaceans (shrimp, crab) and mollusks (cuttlefish, octopus).
The ministry has announced that enterprises will only be allowed to resume exports of crustacean and mollusk products to Japan after they have reported to the ministry, settled the problems effectively, and their products get the recognition from the National Fisheries Quality Assurance and Veterinary Directorate (Nafiqaved) on food hygiene.
Enterprises’ exports will only get exemption from being examined if they have at least 10 consecutive consignments of exports of crustacean and mollusk products meeting the required standards on food hygiene, and are not stopped by Japanese authorities.
The newly promulgated decision has also asked seafood processing companies to more tightly control input materials. Processors will be forced to control 100 per cent of the materials they collect for processing. Seafood exporters will also have to write down the sources of materials on the finished products.
The Ministry of Fisheries has told Nafiqaved to urgently build up the regulations on the supervision and inspection by state management authorities over the production conditions of enterprises.
The lately released decision on controlling the quality of seafood exports to Japan has been enacted after the red flag from the market, especially after the letter of warning from the Japanese Ambassador in Vietnam.
The ministry has declared a state of emergency on the quality of seafood products, and had meetings with enterprises, discussing solutions for the current problems.
According to the ministry statistics, Vietnam netted close to US$1.64 billion from seafood exports in the first six months of this year, up 17 per cent on-year over 2006. Of the value, earning from Japanese markets reportedly accounted for 17 per cent. (Vietnam & World Economy)
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