Paradox: Is it more difficult for seafood standards to enter Vietnamese supermarkets than to export to Europe?
According to VASEP, seafood businesses are currently having difficulty entering supermarkets during the 2019 Lunar New Year because the standards for chemicals and antibiotics banned from use in Vietnam are higher than those in the EU market.
The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) said that September is the time for seafood processing enterprises to finalize contracts and orders for the Lunar New Year with domestic supermarkets.
However, many businesses are currently facing obstacles when supermarkets do not accept seafood shipments they supply due to chemical residues and banned antibiotics.
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| Many domestic seafood businesses are facing difficulties entering domestic supermarkets during the 2019 Lunar New Year. |
According to VASEP, the cause of the problem is the understanding between the management agency, the supermarket system and the supplying enterprises regarding the Minimum Analytical Performance Limit (MRPL) index on the standards of chemicals and antibiotics banned from use in food No. 2005/34/EC dated January 11, 2005 of the European Commission, which stipulates that if the analysis results of the shipment are lower than the MPRL, the food is not banned from use and is allowed to be imported into the EU.
Meanwhile, Vietnam has only issued Maximum Permissible Limits (MRLs) for restricted chemical and antibiotic indicators, but has not yet issued regulations on MPRLs like the European Commission.
According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, this is the reason why domestic supermarkets do not accept food shipments provided by businesses, even though the chemical and antibiotic residues are below the EU's MPRL threshold, which does not affect health.
It is worth mentioning that the inadequacy of seafood standards to enter Vietnamese supermarkets, which is more difficult than entering the European market, has been reflected and recommended by the Vietnam Association of Seafood Processors and Exporters for more than a year to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Health.
Receiving comments, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development coordinated with VASEP to send many documents to the Ministry of Health, proposing to issue MPRL levels for banned chemicals and antibiotics based on reference to EU MPRL levels.
Not receiving any response, at the end of August, the Association of Seafood Processors and Exporters worked with representatives of these two ministries to present and discuss solutions. However, VASEP has yet to receive any response from these agencies.
Therefore, recently, VASEP has continued to send petitions to the Minister, Head of the Government Office, Chairman of the Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform to resolve these concerns for businesses.
The unit hopes that the state management agency will quickly resolve the issue in September 2018 so that seafood businesses can sign contracts for the 2019 Lunar New Year with domestic supermarkets in time.