However, the USDA's proposed rules were delayed repeatedly by the OMB and the White House, as implementing a rule aimed at blocking pangasius imports could have sparked a major trade war with Vietnam, and hurt US meat and agricultural exports. The latest USDA proposed rules, released earlier this year, did not make a final determination as to which species would be covered by an equivalency requirement - that an exporting country have a USDA type continuous inspection system approved.
The political stalemate was broken in the Senate when opponents, led by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and John McCain (R-AZ), were strongly supported by a recent GAO report highly critical of the USDA program.
NFI, which has vigorously opposed the USDA's authority to regulate catfish since 2008, issued a statement praising the vote.
"Common sense has prevailed in the Senate. [This] is a return to fiscal sanity at a time when controls on wasteful government spending are much needed. The voice vote passage of the amendment illustrates the Senate's strong desire to fix this problem.
"The bipartisan effort to repeal the program, with supporters from every corner of the country, took into account not only the agricultural trade implications raised by this program but the waste associated with a regulatory approach that sought to spend millions without actually improving food safety."
Basically, the GAO said it was a waste of government resources to move catfish inspection to the USDA and recommended Congress repeal the program.
According to a summary in Food Safety News, the GAO report questions whether the USDA inspection program would improve food safety, pointing out that federal regulators are using "outdated and limited" information in their risk assessment, upon which the inspection program would be based. The GAO notes that, in the risk assessment, FSIS identified just one outbreak of Salmonella, which occurred in 1991, but the incident "was not clearly linked to catfish." This was before the FDA's 1997 HACCP program came into force. According to GAO, no catfish-linked Salmonella outbreaks have happened since. The report also said "Other federal agencies questioned if FSIS (USDA) had adequately demonstrated a Salmonella problem in catfish.” For example, neither FDA nor NMFS have such concerns.
NMFS and other federal agencies have argued that it is more likely that chemical and drug residues in farm raised catfish are potential hazards, but the OMB told FSIS that Salmonella was the most practical hazard to evaluate, because of the strong data on Salmonella-linked deaths and illnesses in the United States, according to the report. There is not data on the health effects, if any, of the small amounts of chemical or drug residues that have been detected in some samples.
In 2002, imported catfish made up around 2 percent of the U.S. market and by 2010 imports accounted for 23 percent of the market, according to GAO. The GAO said that more fragmentation and overlap is not what the federal food safety system needs. On top of the illogical jurisdictional lines it would create, GAO says the move would cost taxpayers more. The program would provide continuous inspections of domestic processing processing and it would require the same for imported catfish, which only makes up 3 percent of imported seafood.
For US catfish plants, it would mean three federal agencies would have overlapping inspection authority in the same plant: FSIS, FDA, and NMFS. USDA estimated it would cost taxpayers $14 million each year. Between 2009 and 2011, the agency spent $15.4 million in the developing the program and is slated to spend $4.4 million more in FY 2012.
A similar repeal amendment has been introduced in the House with bi-partisan support, by Reps. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), Jack Kingstom (R-GA).
If the House accepts a similar repeal, the five year uncertainty about catfish imports, and the access of US consumers to farm raised white fish, will no longer be under threat.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) On July 9, 2026, the Embassy of Vietnam in Brazil organized the seminar titled “Sharing Information on Vietnam-Brazil Economic, Trade and Investment Relations in the First Half of 2026” to provide updates on bilateral cooperation and strengthen connections among government agencies, industry associations, and business communities of the two countries.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Seafood exports in the first 6 months of the year continued to be a bright spot with a total turnover of 5.7 billion USD, an increase of 11.4% compared to the same period last year. By commodity group, seafood is one of the three groups with a trade balance in the first 6 months of 2026 in a surplus state with 4.13 billion USD, an increase of 17%.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) For many years, Vietnam’s seafood industry has been recognized as one of the country’s key export pillars. Products such as shrimp, pangasius, tuna, squid, octopus, and a wide range of other seafood have reached hundreds of markets worldwide. Yet behind these impressive export figures lies a significant challenge: a substantial share of Vietnam’s seafood export value still comes from minimally processed products, contract manufacturing, and raw material exports—segments characterized by low profit margins and high vulnerability to fluctuations in global prices.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) In the context of a global economy shifting powerfully toward green and sustainable values, Vietfish 2026 is far more than just a commercial trade fair. It has become a strategic rendezvous and a "comprehensive ecosystem"—a convergence of value, knowledge, and sustainable growth opportunities for the entire industry chain.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s pangasius exports to Colombia continued their strong upward momentum in May 2026. Export value to the market reached USD 4 million, up 24% compared to the same month in 2025. Cumulative exports in the first five months of 2026 totaled USD 24 million, an impressive 48% increase year-on-year.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Hai Phong's aquaculture sector is accelerating the adoption of high technologies in aquaculture to adapt to climate change, with red tilapia and tilapia identified as the key cultured species for priority development.
(vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s seafood exports reached nearly US$1.1 billion in June 2026, up 21.0% year-on-year. Cumulative exports in the first half of 2026 totaled nearly US$5.8 billion, representing a 12.8% increase compared with the same period last year. Exports to China and Hong Kong continued to accelerate, while shipments to the United States rebounded strongly in June. In contrast, exports to the EU, Japan, and the Middle East remained sluggish or recorded slight declines.
(vasep.com.vn) Tilapia is playing an increasingly important role in Vietnam’s aquaculture sector, driven not only by growing market opportunities but also by its ability to meet increasingly stringent requirements on quality, food safety, and traceability. In practice, tilapia farming in Vietnam is not a spontaneous or loosely regulated activity; rather, it operates under a comprehensive legal and technical framework covering the entire value chain—from hatcheries and farming to processing and exports.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) Vietnam’s shrimp exports reached USD 1.9 billion in the first five months of 2026, up 12% compared with the same period last year. Amid continued volatility in the global seafood market, this result demonstrates that the shrimp sector has maintained positive growth momentum, supported by improving demand in several Asian markets, particularly China.
(seafood.vasep.com.vn) On June 16, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Ca Mau Province announced that the locality has established a farming area code for nearly 30,400 hectares of mud crab aquaculture and granted export facility codes to five enterprises eligible to export mud crab officially to markets such as China, Cambodia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
VASEP - HIỆP HỘI CHẾ BIẾN VÀ XUẤT KHẨU THỦY SẢN VIỆT NAM
Chịu trách nhiệm: Ông Nguyễn Hoài Nam - Phó Tổng thư ký Hiệp hội
Đơn vị vận hành trang tin điện tử: Trung tâm VASEP.PRO
Trưởng Ban Biên tập: Bà Phùng Thị Kim Thu
Giấy phép hoạt động Trang thông tin điện tử tổng hợp số 138/GP-TTĐT, ngày 01/10/2013 của Bộ Thông tin và Truyền thông
Tel: (+84 24) 3.7715055 – (ext.203); email: kimthu@vasep.com.vn
Trụ sở: Số 7 đường Nguyễn Quý Cảnh, Phường An Phú, Quận 2, Tp.Hồ Chí Minh
Tel: (+84) 28.628.10430 - Fax: (+84) 28.628.10437 - Email: vasephcm@vasep.com.vn
VPĐD: số 10, Nguyễn Công Hoan, Ngọc Khánh, Ba Đình, Hà Nội
Tel: (+84 24) 3.7715055 - Fax: (+84 24) 37715084 - Email: vasephn@vasep.com.vn