Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Luong Le Phuong, who chaired the meeting, called the act of adding substances to raise the shrimp’s weight “a fraud” that adversely affects shrimp exporters and the perception of the quality of Vietnamese shrimp among international consumers.
The fraud has been committed mostly by farmers and small dealers in the Mekong Delta provinces of Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, and partly in Kien Giang, he said. Seafood exporters in Ca Mau Province, where the meeting took place, said they had started to work at their full capacity after several months of raw material shortage, with local farmers breeding shrimp on more than 264,000 hectares of ponds.
“Amidst these good signs is the worry that more farmers are adding weight-gaining substances to the shrimp in different ways,” said Nguyen Xuan Hong, vice chairman of Ca Mau People’s Committee. “It’s illegal and seriously damages the country’s interests.” Many shipments of frozen shrimp from Vietnam have been sent back by importers recently as they fail food safety and hygiene tests, Lam Hong Khach, head of the seafood quality management department of Bac Lieu Province, told the meeting.
The fraud has been committed mostly by farmers and small dealers in the Mekong Delta provinces of Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, and partly in Kien Giang, he said. Seafood exporters in Ca Mau Province, where the meeting took place, said they had started to work at their full capacity after several months of raw material shortage, with local farmers breeding shrimp on more than 264,000 hectares of ponds.
“Amidst these good signs is the worry that more farmers are adding weight-gaining substances to the shrimp in different ways,” said Nguyen Xuan Hong, vice chairman of Ca Mau People’s Committee. “It’s illegal and seriously damages the country’s interests.” Many shipments of frozen shrimp from Vietnam have been sent back by importers recently as they fail food safety and hygiene tests, Lam Hong Khach, head of the seafood quality management department of Bac Lieu Province, told the meeting.
Bac Lieu authorities have found it hard to fight the practice as it is indulged in by small dealers along the border with Hau Giang, Soc Trang and Ca Mau provinces. Khach recommended setting up a Mekong Delta steering committee to fight the addition of weight-gaining substances in shrimp farming. Authorities of Ca Mau Province have since early this year discovered 67 cases of safety and hygiene violations, seizing more than 14,000 kilograms of shrimp, mostly from buyers and small processors.
Each similar violation would be fined VND10-15 million (US$561-862) and all the shrimp confiscated, they said. Yet the practices have only become more popular of late. According to Ca Mau market management, many shrimp dealers in the province have added the substances right after fishing the shrimp out of farmers’ ponds. They soak the shrimp in sugar water or inject agar into the shrimp.
Le Van Quang, director of the local Minh Phu Seafood Processing Company, told the meeting it’s not very difficult to discover these substances. “But as there is not enough supply of clean material, seafood processors have to buy from any source available.” Quang said dealers who buy from farmers and resell to the processing companies should refuse to buy shrimp with impurities.
Ngo Van Nga, general director of Quoc Viet seafood export and processing company that also buys shrimp from farmers, said they cannot afford to do this, since they would not find enough shrimp to supply raw material for processing. Tran Thien Hai, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said adding illegal substances to shrimp has not only damaged the reputation of Vietnam’s seafood industry but also breached business and farming ethics.
Hai said the association will promote in the media the seafood businesses whose exports meet quality standards and who have always refused to buy shrimp with impurities, in an effort to discourage people from committing fraud.
Source: ThanhNienNEWS.com Saturday, June 27, 2009
Le Van Quang, director of the local Minh Phu Seafood Processing Company, told the meeting it’s not very difficult to discover these substances. “But as there is not enough supply of clean material, seafood processors have to buy from any source available.” Quang said dealers who buy from farmers and resell to the processing companies should refuse to buy shrimp with impurities.
Ngo Van Nga, general director of Quoc Viet seafood export and processing company that also buys shrimp from farmers, said they cannot afford to do this, since they would not find enough shrimp to supply raw material for processing. Tran Thien Hai, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), said adding illegal substances to shrimp has not only damaged the reputation of Vietnam’s seafood industry but also breached business and farming ethics.
Hai said the association will promote in the media the seafood businesses whose exports meet quality standards and who have always refused to buy shrimp with impurities, in an effort to discourage people from committing fraud.
Source: ThanhNienNEWS.com Saturday, June 27, 2009
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