Vietnam fisheries aquaculture: Clean in farm, clear informed

Accordingly, D-Fish and VASEP committed that the food safety quality of Vietnam aqua products is always good and faithful to the motto: ‘Clean from the breeding, the farms, to the dining table of every family”

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PRESS RELEASE

“VIETNAM FISHERIES AQUACULTURE:  CLEAN IN FARM, CLEAR INFORMED”

Ho Chi Minh City, April 16, 2013

The food safety quality of Vietnam aqua products is always good and faithful to the motto: "Clean from the breeding, the farms, to the dining table of every family". Directorate of Fisheries and Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters (VASEP) affirm that the hatcheries,  farms, fisheries factories always  keep innovation and improvement to meet the stringent requirements of Vietnam and the world on food safety, traceability as well as responsibilities for the environment and society.

The National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam issued the Food Safety Act in 2011. The Government passed the National Strategy of Food Safety in the years of 2011 - 2020, and prospect to 2030. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has completed the most updated, synchronous and consistent system of management and supervision of fisheries safety quality for the sustainable development of Vietnam seafood export.

The inspection agencies of Europe, the United states of America, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Brazil… get good results of annual assessments of the regulatory systems, organizational structures and duty implementation of Vietnam central and local authorities in the quality control.  Food safety in Vietnam fisheries production chain is not only equivalent to the most advanced fisheries importing countries; it also meets the regulations of the import markets.

Vietnam is always one of 5 top countries in the world for fisheries export at an increasing value for years. In 2012, Vietnam exported USD 6,134 billion of seafood to more than 160 countries and territories around the world. Pangasius and shrimp are two major products accounted for more than 65% of the total export turnover of Vietnam's seafood, including Pangasius which is a native fish species, accounted for 99% of total export value of Pangasius in the world, reaching USD 1.8 billion.

Despite of increasing control from importing countries, the rate of warned fisheries exported batches from Vietnam has been significantly decreased with the regularly growth of export, in contrast to the increasing of warned fisheries exported batches from other countries. The statistics of the warning system from three importing markets are FAD (The US), Japanese Ministry of Health (Japan – MHLW) and RASFF (EU), has shown that Vietnam fisheries quality has been remarkably improved for many recently years.

Vietnam fisheries factories not only satisfy the demands of food safety under HACCP program, but also meet and exceed other voluntary standards such as BRC, IFS, BAP, GlobalGAP, FOS. There are 415 fisheries factories in Vietnam, accounted for more than 73% of total fisheries factories of the industry, meeting the export standards to Europe, against with the year 1999, there are only 17 licensed plants.

VietGAP (Vietnamese Good Aquaculture Practices) is being widely applied for major aquaculture species in Vietnam at present. Fisheries industry sets the target from now to 2020, there is about 80% of intensive and semi-intensive aquaculture farms getting the certificate of VietGAP. VietGAP is applied in Vietnam aquaculture at criteria as same as the international standards which are being applied, such as GlobalGAP, ASC , BAP and CoC (Code of Conduct for responsible fisheries of FAO).  

Growing numbers of farms for fisheries in general and Pangasius in particular which are certificated with Global GAP, ASC, BAP, 1000/2000CM SQF, IFS, FOS ... satisfying the stringent criteria of the United states of America, Europe, Japan as well as the choosy requirements of consumers in the world. For Pangasius, there are 103 farms with 2,800 ha (approximately 40% of the total area of Pangasius farming) getting various sustainable certificates; More than 50% of Pangasius processing plants reach the certificates of Global GAP, ASC ....

According to the regular monitoring results from 2004 to present of the Environmental Monitoring Center under the Program of aquaculture supervision and environmental monitoring in Mekong Delta shows that the water quality criteria are at accepted rate and meet the environmental standards of freshwater aquaculture. Since 1999, NAFIQAD has developed the program of chemical residues control in fisheries products, effectively prevent the misuse of chemicals and antibiotics in fisheries aquaculture in general and Pangasius aquaculture in particular. The program is inspected by the authorities of EU, U.S.A, Canada, Japan ...  and the organizational systems, practices and actual controlling activities are well evaluated.

Pangasius becomes a popular kind of seafood in European market and it is one of 10 seafood which is mostly preferred and consumed in U.S.A thanks to the processing diversification, the nutritious value, the reasonable price to most consumers against other fishes of white meat.

Directorate of Fisheries and VASEP are happy to welcome our friends from countries and territories around the world to visit our beautiful country, to see how we develop our fisheries industry which always keeps complying with the conditions of production to meet the standards of food safety, environmentally friendly and social responsibility.

We pledge to maintain and develop the brand of Vietnam seafood: "Clean from the production to the dining table of every family."

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