May 13, 2005

India steps up measures on shrimp shipments

India's authorities and seafood exporters have intensified their screening activities to detect the presence of any banned antibiotics in shrimp after Japan issued an alert.

The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has initiated a programme to draw samples from hatcheries for laboratory testing to ensure that shrimp consignment contained no antibiotics, such as Nitrofuran Metabolites.

The MPEDA Chairman, Mr G. Mohan Kumar, said samples collected were being tested on a day-to-day basis after the Japanese authorities detected presence of banned substances in 3-4 containers sent from India.

"There was no rejection of these containers as such and they have only informed us about the detection," Mr Kumar said, refuting reports that Japan rejected 28 containers of shrimp exported from India.

MPEDA has embarked upon an awareness programme to educate farmers about the hazards of using antibiotics in their shrimp farms. "Village level campaigns and workshops are taking place, mostly in Andhra Pradesh," Mr Kumar said.

He said farmers were expected to be "sufficiently aware" about the implications before the next harvesting season in July this year.