U.S. to make decision on fish imports from Vietnam next year

Tra fish processing at a local firm. The U.S. may make a final decision in March next year on whether it will continue importing tra fish (Pangasius) from Vietnam or not - PHOTO: VNA

CAN THO – The U.S. may make a final decision in March next year on whether it will continue importing tra fish (Pangasius) from Vietnam or not, said Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Talking with the Daily on the sidelines of a seminar on “Vietnamese standards for seafood processing wastewater” in HCMC on Monday, Hoe said the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would decide if Vietnam’s food safety control system for tra fish is equivalent to that of the U.S.

Vietnamese tra fish will be no longer eligible for sale to the U.S. if Vietnam does not get equivalence recognition. The U.S. has yet to officially announce when the decision is made.

The National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said it sent an equivalence assessment of tra fish to FSIS on August 18. The file contained the answernaire for the Self-Reporting Tool (SRT) and over 1,500 pages proving that Vietnam’s food safety inspection system for tra fish is equivalent to that of the U.S.

Hoe told the Daily that the U.S. had asked the countries whose tra fish products are exported to the U.S., including Vietnam, to complete the second step of the equivalence determination process before September 1.

The equivalence process has six steps: exporting country submits written requests to FSIS, exporting country completes SRT and accompanying documents, FSIS reviews the documents and requires additional information, FSIS carries out actual inspections in exporting country, FSIS initiates rulemaking for comments, and FSIS recognizes equivalence by a final rule.

Vietnamese tra fish export to the U.S. continues as usual until FSIS announces the final rule.

Regarding the catfish inspection program of the U.S., 100% of catfish shipments entering the country have been tested at inventories managed by USDA, also known as I-houses, from August 2 instead of September 1 as earlier stated.

According to VASEP, Vietnam exported US$241 million worth of tra fish in the first eight months of the year, down 6% year-on-year.