Breeders and exporters of tra and basa fish now know they will have to meet a litany of requirements to be able to export their product to various markets. Further, the fish must satisfy many different standards set by individual importing countries - and different standards will only be valid for specific markets.  

According to Secretary General of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) Truong Dinh Hoe, businesses must have HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) to be able to sell their seafood to the US. The system is applied to identify potential food safety hazards so the risk can be curbed or eliminated. 

The problem lies in the fact that, using HACCP, Vietnam will be able to export its seafood to the US - but not necessarily to European Union (EU) member countries. Vietnamese firms will therefore have to spend large sums of money to acquire the necessary different certificates to meet the requirements of different countries. 

Do Xuan Mai of the An Giang Fisheries Association (AFA) noted that if the US approves the Farm Bill 2008, Vietnam’s panga will be classified as “catfish,” meaning that the product will then have to satisfy not only HACCP, but also many other standards, reports VietNamNet Bridge. 

And to be able to conduct business with EU member countries, Vietnamese firms must follow the union’s code requirements. Additionally, so they can enter the union’s retail chains, the fish products will have to satisfy Good Agricultural Practice (GlobalGap) standards. 

In the past, EU countries employed EurepGAP which has now been changed to GlobalGap, VASEP said.

After apologizing for placing Vietnam’s pangasius in its “red list” of products to avoid and then removing it, the World Wild Fund (WWF) reached an agreement with Vietnam on the use of its safety standards for the tra and basa industry. By 2015, about 50 per cent of the country’s “Vietnamese catfish” exports will have to satisfy the standards of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).

Vo Van Thanh, a farmer who owns 5 ha of panga fish ponds in Dong Thap province, complained that having to apply so many standards is confusing. Moreover, he still does not know whether he should use GlobalGap or SQF 1000 standards, and now will also have to take ASC requirements into account. 

The cost of production is now about VND 20,000 (USD 1.02) per kg, of which 70-80 per cent is spent on feeding the fish and 10 per cent on medicine. Applying the standards will consume 10 per cent of total expenses.

Truong Dinh Hoe noted that WWF’s wish to have Vietnam employ the organisation’s ASC standards for tra and basa exacerbated the confusion among farmers.

Related articles:

- Govt, WWF sign MoU on sustainable tra farming 
- WWF apologizes, vows to remove panga from its red list 

By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media