February 14, 2012

 

 

The National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD) under Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that many countries would send their delegations to Vietnam this year to check the quality of their seafood products.

 

NAFIQAD said the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) announced it would launch an annual inspection of seasoned fish fillet processing factories this month.

 

The KFDA would inspect 22 dried seasoned processors in Vietnam from February 19-March 1, said Tran Bich Nga, deputy head of NAFIQAD. Processors to be inspected include Seo Nam Ltd Company, Hai Thanh Ltd Company, Trung Hai Seafood Ltd Company, Dong Anh Ltd Company and Seafood Vietnam Ltd Co.

 

Dried seasoned fish fillet is one of Vietnam's key seafood export products to the South Korean market. Others included crab, mollusks, pangasius fish and mackerel.

 

Last year, Vietnam was the third largest exporter of dried fish to South Korea, reaching US$5.95 million in value. The first and second largest exporters were Russia and China, respectively.

 

In coming years, Vietnam seafood exporters should further improve and control the quality of seafood products to compete with rivals on the South Korean market, the Vietnamese department said.

 

Nguyen Nhu Tiep, NAFIQAD's head, said the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) planned to send a delegation to Vietnam in May to inspect food safety controls of aquaculture producers.

 

The FDA would also inspect food safety conditions at facilities that produce and raise baby fishes, process seafood products for export to the US, produce feed for fisheries and sell animal drugs.

 

In September, the EU would send two delegations to inspect aquaculture, exploration and seafood processing chains, he said.

 

Inspection delegations were sent regularly by countries that import Vietnamese seafood products as part of their supervisory activities. The inspections allowed them to look at potential concerns, such as warnings about antibiotic and chemical residues in Vietnamese seafood exports to the US and Japan, Tiep said

 

NAFIQAD had promoted activities to control seafood quality at all phases of production, from aquaculture to catching seafood in the wild, processing and export activities to further improve quality in order to maintain relations with existing export markets and expand to new markets in North Africa and South America, he said.

 

Seafood is a stable commodity of the Vietnamese export. In 2012, the country is expected to earn US$6.5 billion from exporting seafood compared to US$6.23 billion in 2011.