November 9, 2007

 

India to tighten scrutiny over aqua farms after EU rejects seafood shipments

 

 

The EU's rejection of several consignments black tiger shrimp, cuttle and squid fish from India, citing widespread use of antibiotics has led to calls among Indian exporters to tighten scrutiny over producers. 

 

However, officials of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) said there was no cause for alarm.

 

A.J. Tharakan, national president of SEAI and vice-chairman of MPEDA, said the consignments rejected were mainly from one state- Andhra Pradesh. 

 

MPEDA also added it has taken steps to ensure quality at the farm level, he said.

 

India can ill-afford to lose the EU market as the US, one of its largest shrimp customer, has tightened monitoring on antibiotics and has essentially banned imports from China after discovery of antibiotics in their shipments.

 

Europe has become the largest seafood market for India for the past two years, accounting for a third of shipments, bringing in US$1.8 billion for the country.

 

Nearly half the seafood India sends to the EU comes from farms.

 

The EU considers the commonly used antibiotics in aquaculture farms-chloramphenicol and nitrofuran- potentially harmful at any level.

 

Chloramphenicol could be fatal while nitrofuran is believed to cause damage to genes, which could lead to cancer.

 

As these seafood are used for processing, exporters want testing facilities at the farms so as to ensure their shrimps are antibiotic-free before they are shipped to the EU.

 

Although exporters also want more scrutiny over hatcheries and farms, nothing much has been done so far, Tharakan said.