Spain: VN’s catfish meets EU hygiene standards

VGP – The Spanish Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs (MoHCA) last week underscored that the batch of frozen tra and basa catfish imported from Việt Nam in July 2008 completely complied with the European Union-set criteria on food hygiene and cause no harm to people’s health.

February 02, 2009 2:27 PM GMT+7

Last year, some batches of Việt Nam’s tra and basa catfish imported into Spain were detected containing some disease agents. Upon the incident, some host parliamentarians who are also members of the European Parliament questioned the European Council (EC) about the issue.

Nevertheless, through thorough examinations, MoHCA announced that the batch of frozen catfish totally meets the EU’s requirements on food hygiene, causing no impact on the environment and people’s health.

EU commissioner in charge of health Androula Vassiliou revealed that the EU’s relevant authorities will try best to ensure that Vietnamese exports satisfying legal requirements.

Spain is one of top EU consumers of Việt Nam’s tra and basa catfish. The Association of Marine Fish Farmers of Spain (APROMAR) stated that the country annually imports around 40,000 tons of catfish from the exporter.

By Kim Loan