Notes on ensuring food safety and hygiene for seafood products

If food safety issues are not properly addressed, not only will it negatively affect the health of consumers, but the Vietnamese seafood industry will also be at risk of gradually losing its market share due to a decline in its reputation in the world market.

Ensuring food safety and hygiene (FSH) in general and aquatic products in particular is an issue of particular concern to the whole society; especially when the aquaculture environment in many places is increasingly polluted by industrial and domestic waste sources and wastewater from aquaculture ponds. This existence increases the level of damage caused by epidemics and forces farmers to use more veterinary drugs, and cannot control the status of drug and chemical residues in shrimp and fish when harvested.

According to the Department of Animal Health, the number of seafood shipments, especially brackish water shrimp, that have been warned and returned by importing countries is very large; specifically, from the beginning of 2014 until now, nearly 32,000 tons of seafood of all kinds have been returned due to contamination with banned antibiotics, microorganisms and other impurities. In the first 9 months of 2015 alone, 542 seafood shipments from 110 exporting companies were returned by 38 importing countries, with each company having an average of 5 shipments that did not meet quality standards, and in some cases, up to 70 shipments were returned. Therefore, if food safety and hygiene issues are not properly addressed, not only will it negatively affect the health of consumers, but the Vietnamese seafood industry will also be at risk of gradually losing its market due to a decline in its reputation in the world market.

To ensure food safety and hygiene quality for aquatic products in the current and upcoming period, within the scope of responsibility of aquaculture farmers, the following measures must be taken:

- Apply good farming techniques (GAP, SQF, CoC...) and participate in training courses on food safety and hygiene knowledge.

- The construction site of the aquaculture facility must comply with the planning and not be polluted by industrial and domestic waste. The aquaculture facility must be built according to technical standards, have separate water supply and drainage systems, settling ponds, treatment ponds, and have solid banks and no leaks.

- Toilets and auxiliary facilities must be located far from the farming area. Household waste and the farming area must be properly treated to avoid contamination of the pond. Tools such as nets, rackets, machines, etc. must be kept clean.

- Only use disease-free quarantined breeds and follow the recommended stocking schedule of the professional agency.

- Do not use food or veterinary medicine that is contaminated with mold, expired, of unknown origin, source, or ingredients. Absolutely do not use chemicals or antibiotics in the prohibited list of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and do not use any growth stimulants (hormones).

- Fully implement disease prevention measures. When detecting sick shrimp or fish, consult a technical expert for treatment to ensure no abuse of veterinary drugs or chemicals.

- Do not discharge untreated water and waste from ponds and farms into the surrounding environment.

- Only use veterinary medicine and food with clear labels, full instructions for use and have a separate place to store food and veterinary medicine.

- Have a diary with full information on diet, food type, veterinary medicine, and chemicals used throughout the farming process to facilitate traceability when necessary.

- Before harvesting, samples must be taken to test for chemical and antibiotic residues. When harvesting, a declaration of seafood origin must be made and submitted to the processing facility or purchasing facility along with a chemical and antibiotic residue test form./.

According to Khuyennongquocgia