GENERAL INFORMATION

Quality control 

Quality control and food safety assurance have always been one of the most important task for Vietnam seafood, especially in processing and exporting.

The fishery sector in recent years have been developing towards sustainability, ensuring exported seafood products can be easy for traceability and well – controlled quality in the whole chain production from seeds to finished products.

Seafood quality and food safety is managed in the chain transferred from Control of Final Products from 80s of last century to Control of Production Process (today).  

Chemicals and Residues Monitoring

Residues Monitoring Program for Certain Harmful Substances in aquaculture fish and products implemented since 2000 in over the country including concentrated aquaculture areas, species with large yield, all crops in all year round. These results are recognized by the U.S, EU, South Korea..

Post harvest seafood quality and safety monitoring program implemented since 2009 in over the country including fishing seafood, aquaculture products (criteria and species not included by the Residues Monitoring Program for Certain Harmful Substances in aquaculture fish and products).

Up to December 2015, there are 612 plants meeting national standards of hygiene, 100% plants applied HACCP, 461 EU-qualified (EU code) plants and many factories applied GMP, SSOP.   

List of Vietnam seafood producers qualified to export to markets  

List of Vietnam seafood producers qualified to export to markets

(Updated: Nov 2015)

No

Export markets

Update time

Proposed update time

1

Europe (EU)

6 Jan 2016

26 Jan 2016

2

South Korean

2 Feb 2016

26 Jan 2016

3

China

1 Feb 2016

26 Jan 2016

4

Brazil

22 Dec 2015

 

5

Argentine

28 Jan 2016

 

6

Ukraine (list of pangasius producers)

9 Jan 2014

 

7

Eurasian Economic Union (Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, Kyryzstan)

21 Jun 2015

 

8

El Salvado

 

7 May 2010

9

List of bivalve molluck processors exporting to EU

8 Dec 2015

 

10

List of seasoned dried leather jacket fish processors exporting to Korea

25 Dec 2015

25 Dec 2015

11

The list of exporters qualified for food safety assurance (updated by Vietnam customs)

2 Feb 2016

 

12

List of processors eligible in exporting pangasius to the US.

9 Mar 2016

 

 

Vietnam protests Saudi Arabia’s seafood import ban

Vietnam has sent a diplomatic note to oppose a seafood import suspension imposed recently by Saudi Arabia, calling on the country to withdraw its decision.

Vietnam’s vice minister of agriculture, Vu Van Tam, delivered the ministry’s diplomatic note to Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Vietnam, Dakhil Al Johani, in a meeting in Hanoi on 7 February

Tam said Vietnam was surprised about the temporary suspension, which he said contains aspects that violate international trading laws.

Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) on 30 January temporarily suspended imports of fish, crustaceans, and other products of aquatic animal origin from Vietnam due to the presence of two diseases in the Southeast Asian nation.

The ban, effective 23 January, was based on the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)’s "Quarterly Aquatic Animal Disease Report (Asia-Pacific Region) April - June 2017," which shows that white spot disease and acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease are present in Vietnam, SFDA said in its notification of emergency measures.

Prior to the issuance of the ban, SFDA dispatched a technical team to Vietnam to observe control measures applied by the Vietnamese government for export facilities of fish, crustaceans, and other products of aquatic animal origin, and following its inspection, the team recommended the ban, according to the note.

Nguyen Nhu Tiep, director of the Vietnamese Agriculture Ministry’s National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department, said Saudi Arabia’s decision was “not reasonable.” SFDA has not sent Vietnam any feedback after its inspection, he said. In addition, white-spot disease is present in shrimp in Saudi Arabia, too, according to Vietnam’s Department of Animal Health. Thus, under regulations of the OIE, Saudi Arabia must prove the safety level of the disease in its country before imposing a ban on imports of shrimp from other countries, Tiep said.

Furthermore, Saudi Arabia’s ban on cooked shrimp products from Vietnam goes against OIE’s rules and international practices, Tiep said, given that the cooking process destroys any disease risk.

Tiep added his opposition to the fact that while Saudi Arabia’s inspection team had only carried out inspections at a few Vietnamese pangasius companies, the SFDA had instituted an import ban on all seafood products from Vietnam. He noted that Saudi Arabia was the only country to have instituted such a ban out of the 160-plus countries and territories to which Vietnam ships seafood, including many with stringent requirements for biosecurity, disease safety, and food security.

The Saudi Arabian ambassador said he shared Vietnam’s concerns over the ban and that he would hand over the diplomatic note to SFDA and work with relevant agencies to make sure the issue does not affect the two countries’ overall trading ties.

Saudi Arabia has also suspended imports of aquaculture products from Bangladesh and Myanmar and farmed fish from India.


  • Vinh Hoan
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