(vasep.com.vn)The new rules will make it difficult to export catfish and pangasius to the US. As a matter of fact, the rules will trouble Vietnamese exporters and exporters from other country and also affect America's seafood manufacturers.
The US government is at the final stage to prepare for imposing stricter regulations on catfish.
USDA will conduct inspection and monitoring more frequently, and even on daily basis. They will directly inspect meat and seafood processing plants in stead of random check method currently applied by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Once the regulation being imposed, it will cost all US catfish manufacturers millions of dollars. Most US catfish manufactures are mainly in the southern states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas.
Data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) revealed that in the past few years, for various reasons, catfish hatcheries areas of the US halved to about 23,000 hectares from 65,000 hectares in 2008.
It is said to result from the rise in price of corn, major source for fishmeal. In 2008, to protect domestic catfish industry, the US imposed protection measures and anti-dumping tax on catfish imports from several countries and pangasius imports from Vietnam.
Some US lawmakers, including Senator John McCain and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, described plan to transfer of catfish inspection from the FDA to the USDA as 'wasteful and duplicative'.