Shrimp exported from Bangladesh to the EU will undergo stringent testing procedures after the country’s testing facilities were found to be falling short of European expectations.
The EU will test at least 20% of the cargoes heading to its ports from Bangladesh from 15 July, said a statement issued by the EU.
According to reports in the Bangladesh media, Brussels took the decision in the wake of serious shortcomings reported by a Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) mission which visited Bangladesh in January.
The FVO found insufficient improvements had been made in the Bangladesh laboratory capacity since 2008 for detecting unwanted substances in shrimp, the statement said.
Bangladesh ships around $500 million (€386 million) -worth of shrimp every year, making it the country's third largest export item. The industry employs more than one million people mainly in the country's impoverished south west coastal districts.
The EU is Bangladesh’s biggest market for shrimp.
"It is a big setback for our shrimp industry," said Maqsudur Rahman, vice president of the Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters Association, the industrial grouping that represents the industry.
"The industry is going through a critical phase due to lack of proper steps by the government in time," he said.
"We requested the concerned authorities repeatedly to examine our products in other laboratories of the country but they hardly paid any heed.
"Our exports would be unduly delayed due to the tough testing measures. The EU importers will also punish us by offering cheaper rates. And there will be many hidden setbacks that we have not foreseen yet," he said.
In June 2009, Bangladesh voluntarily banned its exports of freshwater prawns, one of 12 species of shrimp farmed in the country, after the cancer-causing antibiotic, Nitrofuran, had been found in more than 50 EU-bound consignments.
Although exports of the particular species resumed in January this year, the Nitrofuran issue shed negative light on the overall health and hygiene standards practised in the country's shrimp industry.
[Source: The Financial Express]
