The Demo Site

All seafood products meant for export to Japan would be checked to ensure they are free of antibiotic residues and banned chemicals, a top Vietnamese official has said.

Deputy Minister of Fisheries Luong Le Phuong told a seminar held Tuesday to discuss the issue that seafood certificated by the National Fisheries Quality Assurance and Veterinary Directorate (Nafiqaved) for food safety would qualify for export.

The ministry was also set to check all seafood processing firms. Firms failing to meet safety norms would not be allowed to export and could even be shut down.

The safety drive follows a recent complaint by Japan’s ambassador to Vietnam, Norio Hattori, that banned antibiotic residues were still found in frozen shrimp and cuttlefish products from Vietnam.

If the situation did not improve soon, Japan would consider a ban on the import of Vietnamese seafood, he warned.

In the first half of the year seafood exporters shipped 6,000 batches to Japan and 94 of them were found to contain banned antibiotics like AOZ (3-amino-2-oxazole), Chloramphenicol, and Nitrofuran.
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Reported by Quang Thuan – Compiled by Dong Ha