HCM City (VNA) – The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)under the US Department of Agriculture recently proposed that Vietnam would beeligible to export catfish and other fish products to the US market, accordingto the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters andProducers (VASEP).

This week, the FSIS will publish in the Federal Register proposed rules to listVietnam, China, and Thailand as three foreigners qualified to ship catfish tothe American country.

Once these documents go on public display at the Office of the FederalRegister, their scheduled publication dates will be posted on//www/federalregister.gov.public-inspection/current.

The proposed rules announce FSIS’ determination that catfish (or siluriformes)inspection systems in the three countries be equivalent to those in the US. Theproposals will be open for comment for 30 days.

Vietnam, China, and Thailand had submitted documentations to the FSIS toestablish the level of their catfish inspection systems and eligibility toexport this kind of fish to the US.

Under the Farm Bill which was passed in 2014, the catfish inspection programmetook effect on March 1, 2016 with transition period of 18 months. Accordingly, fromSeptember 1, 2017, any country that does not submit the equivalent documents tothe FSIS is not allowed to export the product to the US market.

Right after the inspection programme was issued, the Ministry of Agricultureand Rural Development ordered relevant agencies to implement technicalcooperation with the FSIS. At the same time, the ministry worked closely withthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to maintaincatfish exports to the American country.

The National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD)submitted the necessary documents to the FSIS on August 23, 2017.

From May 14-25, 2018, the FSIS conducted inspections on catfish production inVietnam and determined that the country’s controlled inspection system appearsto provide an equivalent level of public health protection applied domesticallyin the US.

Despite formidable challenges posed by high anti-dumping duties and the catfishinspection programme, catfish exports to the US enjoyed strong growth thanks tothe high selling price. In the first six months of the year, Vietnam earned196.8 million USD from tra fish export to this market, accounting for 19.6percent of total tra fish export revenue, and increasing by 11.6 percent fromthe same time last year. –VNA