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| Panama has permitted 17 seafood processing facilities in Việt Nam to export seafood products to the country, according to the Panama Food Safety Authority (AUPSA). — Photo diendandoanhnghiep.com.vn |
HÀ NỘI – Panama has permitted 17 seafood processing facilities in Việt Nam to export seafood products to the country, according to the Panama Food Safety Authority (AUPSA).
The announcement came in an official letter sent by AUPSA to Việt Nam’s National Agro, Forestry, and Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD).
NAFIQAD Director Nguyễn Như Tiệp said the department had proposed the 17 eligible enterprises should actively interact with their customers and importers in Panama. Meanwhile, they must also be registered with the NAFIQAD under existing regulations for seafood product exports to Panama, reported vietnamplus.vn.
Tiệp said the department would require its regional agro, forestry and fisheries quality centres to inspect export batches and issue export licences for them based on AUPSA’s standards.
In addition, he said the department had also asked AUPSA to quickly announce the problems associated with seafood processing and export facilities in Việt Nam that Panama had inspected in June, which were not granted permission to export seafood to Panama.
The announcement of those problems would help Việt Nam’s enterprises find solutions to reach Panama’s food standards and achieve permission to export to Panama, he said.
According to NAFIQAD’s official letter to AUPSA, the department has also asked for clarifications of some regulations that were not suitable for seafood products, he said.
MARD stops licensing seafood shipments to EU
In another development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) will no longer grant licences for seafood shipments from exporters blocked by the European Union (EU) for using banned substances in their products.
According to a ministry decision which took effect last week, the disqualified exporters could regain their licences if they submit to inspections on the banned shipments.
They also need to pass tests conducted by NAFIQAD.
Deputy Minister Vũ Văn Tám said the exporters had ceased seafood exports to the EU till there is an announcement from NAFIQAD.
In addition, businesses were required to provide their products for tests on each shipment.
Ngô Hồng Phong, NAFIQAD’s deputy director, said the department would update information on warnings from the EU Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) and provide documents to exporters.
NAFIQAD also asked seafood processors exporting to the EU to review their quality management programmes as well as build solutions to control banned substances.
The DG SANTE wrote to Nafiqad on August 2 saying that the EU had decided to remove a Vietnamese seafood exporter, whose name remains undisclosed, from the list of exporters allowed in the EU. The sanction was made after antibiotics were found in the company’s shipments to the EU.
In late April, the directorate issued a warning against several seafood shipments of four Vietnamese exporters, saying the products did not meet EU food safety requirements.
The four exporters include Mekong Delta under Cần Thơ Export-Import Seafood Joint Stock Company, Southern Fishery Industries Co Ltd, Foodtech Joint Stock Co and Khang Thông Joint Stock Company. — VNS
