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Food safety key to EU market
General Secretary of Ha Noi's Biology Association Nguyen Van Bieu has called on those exporting vegetables to ramp up their compliance with food safety standards and the Good Agriculture Practice (GAP), to meet the requirements of EU consumers.
Speaking at a workshop yesterday on the export of fruits and vegetable to the EU, Bieu said that the EU had tightened regulations on quality, posing a challenge to Vietnamese producers.
In early 2012, five types of produce, including basil, sweet pepper, celery, bitter gourd and coriander failed to meet the EU food hygiene and safety regulations. The EU subsequently announced they would halt the import of Vietnamese produce if five more batches of exports were found to be violating regulations.
In an effort to prevent a complete ban on Vietnamese vegetable and fruits, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development temporarily suspended issuing quarantine certificates in March 2012 to prevent other fruit being added to the EU's blacklist.
Bieu noted that as of June 30 2013, local exporters could resume shipment of Vietnamese produce to the EU because the department had begun granting quarantine certificates.
To regain the confidence of EU consumers, Vietnamese processors and exporters needed to improve quality and environmental management systems, Bieu said.
He also urged Vietnamese enterprises to study changes in EU food safety standards so that they could tailor their processing work accordingly.
Nguyen Thi Tan Loc, from the Fruits and Vegetable Research Institute, said that organic products grown in a sustainable way and labelled as fair trade could enter EU market easily.
Viet Nam currently suffers from a shortage of arable farm land and few producers are applying Good Agriculture Practice standards, she said, adding that a shortage of market information was a disadvantage for Vietnamese enterprises.
Between 2005 and 2011, Viet Nam's fruit and vegetable exports averaged US$300 million per year. In 2011, it reached a record $630 million, 35.5 per cent higher than figures recorded in 2010 and placing it in the top five largest vegetable exporters in the world.
In 2012, Viet Nam earned a total $829 million from exporting fruits and vegetable, with a target to increase this to $1 billion this year.
The EU is the largest importer of Viet Nam, spending $20.31 billion on importing its products including footwear, textile in 2012.
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