Vietnam: No banned antibiotics found in seafood

The southern unit of the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (Nafiqad) has launched an overall inspection into localities as Japan and South Korea have tightened ethoxyquin and trifluralin residue checks on shrimps imported from Vietnam. Seafood quality control delegations from the US, Russia, Australia and Brazil have also made more trips to the country compared to previous years.

Therefore, Nafiqad has asked its units to speed up seafood checks. In the South, seafood produced in 14 provinces and cities have been confirmed to be free from banned substances.

Nguyen Van Nhiem, head of My Thanh Shrimp Association in Soc Trang Province, said that local farmers have raised awareness on using banned antibiotic in shrimp or tra fish farming.

Besides, farmers have gained experience in using substitute substances. However, antibiotic is no longer a problem to members of this association but they are now facing capital shortage to continue shrimp farming.

Over the past years, shrimp farmers in Soc Trang have taken out bank loans to facilitate farming. However, they have suffered heavy losses as a large volume of shrimp died en masse, Nhiem said.

According to Nafiqad, Binh Thuan, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh and Kien Giang provinces have suffered shrimp diseases due to unstable environmental factors. Tra fish diseases have also been detected in Vinh Long Province.

White spot and liver diseases on shrimps have spread throughout the country. Last year, Tra Vinh Province suffered the biggest damage with nearly 36.5% of shrimp farming area contracted with the diseases.