In what is being seen as a big relief for seafood exporters, Japan has dispensed with the inspection of Indian black tiger shrimp shipments after consignments were found free of the residues of the synthetic anti-bacterial drug furazolidone.
The decision to lift the inspection was conveyed by the Food Inspection and Safety Division of Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, to the Indian embassy in Japan, the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and Export Inspection Council of India, said in a communication.
The Japanese ministry had earlier reduced import inspection sampling frequency for black tiger shrimp to 30 per cent from the 100 per cent through a notification issued on March 25. Since there were no detections of furazolidone in further export consignments of farmed black tiger shrimp from India, Japan decided to provide complete relaxation in inspection. The item would only be subjected to the regular internal monitoring plan, which is mandatory for all food items distributed in Japan.
A two-member expert team had surveyed the black tiger shrimp hatcheries, farms, and processing units that exported the variety in early March 2020 ahead of the initial order.
MPEDA chairman K.S. Srinivas welcomed the order and said it would boost the morale of Indian seafood exporters, who are battling various trade and logistic issues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said that the MPEDA’s multi-species aquaculture complex on Vallarpadam island in Kochi had been making sustained efforts to revive the production of black tiger shrimps by supplying healthy seeds to the farmers, who were quite satisfied with it as it exhibited better growth and survival.
