Shrimp export may face EU ban
November 22, 2008
Bangladesh is likely to face troubles in exporting shrimp again like in 1997 as the government is yet to comply with the rules, regulations and sanitation facilities prescribed by the European Union. The situation augurs ill for frozen food, the country’s second largest export sector. The EU has repeatedly asked the government to monitor and ensure implementation of all the rules and regulations at the field level of the industry in compliance with international shrimp export rules, but the insistence apparently fell on deaf ears, said sources in the fisheries and livestock ministry.
In January to November the EU also has sent back around 200 containers carrying 4,000 tonnes of contaminated shrimp allegedly exported by a section of unscrupulous traders in collusion with some dishonest fisheries officials.
The government has merely cancelled the licence of a fish exporting company but has not taken any action against the alleged fisheries officials for their involvement in such malpractices.
Although the fisheries quality control laboratory at Chittagong and Khulna had certified those consignments as rotten and contaminated and asked to destroy all the shrimps immediately yet they had somehow been exported, resulting not only financial losses to the company but, more importantly, damaging the country’s image as a shrimp export, the sources pointed out.
A two-member EU delegation visited the country on November 11 to 19 and asked the government to institute the rules and regulations and improve their implementation, including laboratory testing and infrastructure facilities, within a year. Otherwise, the team said, Bangladesh may have to face an export ban, said the sources.
The delegation found the condition inside frozen fish depots here unhygienic and detected irregularities in documentation, regulations, traceability, and laboratory test reports.
The team members also found that the fisheries landing stations were not in use and expressed their dissatisfaction at the use of some veterinary drugs in fish processing, which is prohibited by international rules.
Regarding the use of veterinary drugs and chemicals, like chlrophenicol and nitrophuran, a kind of harmful antibiotic, in shrimp consignments, Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters’ Association president Kazi Belayet Hossain said, ‘nitrophuran is found as a residue substandard fish feed and the government should bring this malpractice to a stop.’
The feed millers allegedly use such contraband chemicals in fish feeds as they have no registration with or permission from the government for manufacturing and marketing of feeds, he pointed out.
A section of fish traders are also using some other harmful chemicals to increase the weight of their products, he said. The government has taken an upazila-level project funded by the UNIDO for ensuring traceability of shrimps. Full implementation of the project will need two to three years.
Since the August-December ban imposed by the EU on shrimp export from Bangladesh in 1997, there has been no development, like in hygiene and sanitation, in the frozen food sector, excepting some infrastructure improvement.
A section of shrimp exporters produces fresh fishes as samples for laboratory test without stockpiling their products but allegedly export sub-standard products which are not closely examined.
The Fish and Fish Products (Inspection and Quality Control) Ordinance of 1997 prohibits beheading and processing of shrimp at depots under unhygienic condition, but the exporters allegedly are not paying any heed to those prohibitions.
The quality control laboratories in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna under the fisheries department also lack adequate and trained manpower, resulting in a gradual declining in the quality of shrimps being exported, the sources said.
Fisheries and livestock secretary Syed Ataur Rahman said, ‘We are increasing supervision at the field level and further decisions also have been taken at a meeting on Sunday.’
Upgrading the standard of the laboratories, employing skilled manpower, implementation of the residue monitoring plan and banning utilisation of contraband drugs and feeds by fish farms are among the major conditions dictated by the European Union for importing shrimp from Bangladesh, said a official of the ministry.
The country also has to follow thirty-six more EU directives for exporting shrimps to EU countries in future that include, he added.
The United States, European Union and Japan are the three major markets of Bangladesh’s frozen shrimps, with the EU alone accounting from 48 per cent of its total shrimp exports.
Every year the country exports about 70,000-75,000 tonnes of fishes and earns more than Tk 3,500 crore.
Source: New Age
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