Shrimp checks intensify in Vietnam
Vietnam is scrambling to upgrade quality control of
shrimp exports in response to tighter overseas
restrictions on traces of chloramphenicol, an antibiotic
believed hazardous to human health. The government
has spent roughly $2 million to import sophisticated
new testing equipment, with the first machines slated to
arrive in September, say Hanoi officials. In addition, 30
Vietnamese shrimp-export firms are forking out
$20,000 each for their own "quick test" machines.
Some local industry leaders complain that the European
Union, Canada and the United States should have given
them more time to comply with the sharply lower levels
of permissible chloramphenicol, now set at 0.3 parts
per billion, compared to previous levels of five parts per
billion. But after watching the jittery EU ban Chinese
shrimp exports completely last year due to this
problem--and destroy an undisclosed number of
Vietnamese shrimp containers--Vietnam has little
choice but to comply. The government has banned the
antibiotic but experts believe it may still be lurking in
some imported shrimp feed or hand cream used by
pond labourers. The latest scare occurred in early
August when the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration
confirmed two contaminated samples from Vietnam.
The rapidly expanding shrimp industry is central to
Vietnam's economic-growth projections, with shrimp
exports reaching $780 million last year.
The Far Eastern Economic Review - September 19, 2002.
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