VN gets fewer warnings over banned chemicals in shrimp

VIETNAM received fewer warnings over residues of banned chemicals or antibiotics in exported shrimp last year, said an agriculture official.

Speaking at a conference on Vietnam’s shrimp production industry on March 11, Le Ba Anh, Deputy Director of the Department of Quality Management of Agro-Forestry and Fisheries Products, said that last year, 64 shrimp shipments fromVietnam were warned by the importing countries’ authorities.

A total of 22 loads received warnings relating to phosphate indicators, 21 reported aquatic diseases, nine shipments with micro-organisms, one shipment with heavy metals, and two shipments had problems with labelling.

Eight shipments were warned about banned antibiotics, accounting for 12.5 per cent of total shipments.

The instances were fewer than in 2020, when 10 shipments of shrimp from Vietnam received warnings about chemicals and antibiotics, accounting for 28.3 per cent of total shipments, the official said.

Regarding monitoring chemical and antibiotic residues in the farming process, in 2021, the department took 1,768 samples of farmed shrimp in 111 concentrated shrimp farming areas to analyse chemical residues and resistance.

Thirteen shrimp samples violated the antibiotic chemical criteria, specifically, Chloramphenicol, Ciprofloxacin, Oxytetracycline, Ormetoprim, Enrofloxacin, SEM, Anh said, adding that the results showed the abuse of banned chemical and antibiotics at some shrimp farming facilities.

Regarding the control of impurities in raw shrimp, last year, authorities conducted 123 inspections in four key shrimpgrowing provinces – Ca Mau, Bac

Lieu, Soc Trang and Kien Giang.

As a result, 55 establishments were found violating regulations and hit with fines of nearly 31 billion dong.

According to the official, other seafood businesses, such as those exporting pangasius, could learn from the shrimp industry’ experience.

According to the Agro-ForestryFisheries Quality Management Department, up to now, 352 shrimp processing establishments in the country have been appraised, certified and meet all conditions to ensure food safety.

They are included in the list of shrimp producers allowed for export to other countries and territories such as the EU, China and South Korea.

To promote sustainable shrimp exports, Anh suggested that businesses in the export shrimp production and processing chain need to promote the development of farming areas, and increase production to help reduce the cost of raw shrimp.

They should increase investment in processing technology, developing organic and ecological shrimp farming in order to increase the value of the products and protect the environment sustainably.

For localities, it is necessary to effectively implement the programme to monitor the residues of toxic substances in farmed aquatic products including farmed shrimp to promptly detect, warn, trace, and handle thoroughly for farming, production and business establishments that violate regulations on residues of chemicals and antibiotics.

The department will continue to monitor and update the situation of consignments subject to antibiotic chemical warnings to promptly warn businesses and apply appropriate control measures, he said.