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Vietnamese seafood much sought after in EU market
Vietnamese seafood is much sought after in the EU market, said the EU mission after it inspected 301 Vietnamese seafood enterprises last April thus opening up a wealth of opportunities for the Vietnamese seafood industry to boost its exports to this lucrative market.
During their fourth tour, from April 20-30, the mission said that the equipment, facilities and hygiene and safety in Vietnamese seafood enterprises all basically meet the EU’s requirements.
However, according to the EU mission’s initial reports on the pre-processing hygiene conditions at seafood enterprises, only one of the ports and one of the fishing vessels met EU standards while the attention paid to frozen seafood still proves to be substandard.
The EU mission asked enterprises to ensure that food hygiene and safety was ensured during the process by wearing gloves and to make sure that packaging clearly showed the origins of products.
Opening up many opportunities
The Director of Song Tien Seafood Joint Stock Company (Sotico), Nguyen Thi Anh said that the EU’s inspection of Vietnamese seafood businesses was necessary because it helped companies to learn valuable lessons. This company now knows its weaknesses, which are minor, but still very important.
The EU Food Law’s motto is safety from farm to dinning table. To follow the motto, the EU pointed to the principle that all products must have a clear origin.
Many enterprises said that the united import law will provide a good chance for exporters because if they meet EU regulations on seafood they can penetrate any country, instead of adjusting standards according to each market. The exporters only negotiated with sole importers.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Luong Le Phuong said that exporters to the EU should voluntarily provide a list of ships and purchasing units to help the authorities check them and grant certificates of origin to prevent the use of chemicals. However, businesses must accept that purchasing safe products costs a higher price.
vov
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