Vietnam seeks US approval to 13 catfish producers

Vietnam’s agriculture quality control department has asked the US Food Safety and Inspection Service to give approval to another 13 catfish processing plants.

Vietnam’s agriculture quality control department Nafiqad has asked the US Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to give approval to another 13 catfish processing plants so that they may be eligible to export their products to the US during the transitional period from March 2016 to August next year.

Nafiqad Director Nguyen Nhu Tiep said that during the stated period, countries currently exporting catfish to the US that wish to continue doing so must provide a list of producers and the FSIS will conduct inspection on their exports.

Recently, the FSIS has officially approved 45 Vietnamese producers as eligible to export catfish to the US.

If catfish shipments are found to violate the requirements on labelling and safety, they will not be cleared.

As such, Nafiqad has requested producers on the eligible list to review their quality and food safety control system to ensure their exports to the US meet the requirements of this market.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, Vietnam’s catfish export revenues in the first quarter of 2016 reached US$358 million, up 4.2% over the same period last year, of which US-bound shipments earned US$81 million, up nearly 10%.