October 9, 2010
Bangladesh urges the EU to withdraw the 20% mandatory testing of frozen food consignments, such as shrimp, exported from Bangladesh to EU countries.
In between November 2009 and May 2010, there were 54 incidents of rejections of fresh water Bangladeshi shrimp consignments exported to the EU that cast a corrosive effects on export trade of Bangladesh with the EU.
Bangladesh made this appeal when a trade delegation recently visited Brussels for resolving problems regarding export of frozen food from Bangladesh to the EU countries. A seven-member trade delegation, led by Commerce Secretary MD. Ghulam Hussain, visited Brussels, Belgium during September 27-29 to resolve the existing impediments with regard to export of frozen food from Bangladesh.
EU is the largest trading partner of Bangladesh. More than 50% of Bangladeshi exports go to the EU. In line with their concern, the SANCO monitors and proposes new laws, compliance regulations, etc. on the imported food including frozen food.
An EU, SANCO mission visited Bangladesh on January 19-28, 2010 in order to evaluate the quality of frozen food exported from Bangladesh and observed the institutional facilities in including the control of residues and contaminants in aquaculture products, control on veterinary medicinal products and public health condition.
The EU mission submitted a report containing 12 recommendations. The competent authority of Bangladesh, Fish Inspection and Quality Control (FIQC), DOF reported its compliance status to SANCO on the recommendations on March 20 this year.
On September 27, the leader and members of the Bangladesh delegation discussed matters relating to export of frozen food and the impediments created due to imposition of 20% mandatory tests of consignments with Bangladesh ambassador to Belgium and the EU and other officials of the embassy.
They discussed at length about the steps taken by the Bangladesh authorities to develop the food safety system and determine the strategy as to how to lift the 20% mandatory checking of frozen food consignments exported from Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh side further informed that DOF strengthened the testing capacities of the laboratories by installing new equipment and employing additional technical manpower.
Besides, an alliance of laboratories in Bangladesh has been formulated between Department of Fisheries (DOF), Bangladesh Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (BCSIR), Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI) and Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to pool all the laboratory resources and technical expertise available in the country.
