May 14, 2012

Vietnam eases seafood products' export check

Impurity control on tiger prawn shipments has been eased by Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as well as removing quality testing requirements for export of Tra and Basa fish.

This decision is attached to a document sent by the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (Nafiqad) to the General Customs Office and local customs agencies on May 9, asking the receivers to not require seafood exporters to present food quality and safety certificates.

Specifically, the agriculture ministry has removed many of the previously issued regulations regarding quality checks, including Circular 09/2010/TT-BNTPTNT released in February 2010, Decision 2568/QD-BNN-QLCL published in October 2011 and Circular 55/2011/TT-BNTPTNT.

In addition, Nafiqad requested customs offices to perform procedures for export shipments of local seafood processors whose names are given in the list of businesses recognised to be able to ensure food safety.

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has constantly voiced its objection to the regulations to tighten control on export seafood products, which has placed a cost burden on enterprises. Quality testing and application for food safety certifications put enterprises to a lot of expense, said VASEP, but the crux of the matter, which lies on the quality of input materials for processing, is still left unresolved.