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The Russian inspectors come to survey if Vietnamese aquaculture and seafood processing establishments follow the requirements on food hygiene.
In the morning of March 12, after meeting the leaders from the Ministry of Fisheries of Vietnam, the inspectors had a working session with the National Fisheries Quality Assurance and Veterinary Directorate (Nafiqaved).
As scheduled, the delegation of Russian inspectors will take inspection tours to fishing ports, fish markets, aquaculture and seafood processing establishments during March 13-28. The inspectors will examine the supervision over fishing, cultivating and processing process at the preliminary treatment workshops, cold storage, processing workshops and the establishments that get involved in the seafood supply system.
Prior to that, the Russian side asked Vietnamese relevant authorities to arrange the inspection tours in February. However, the Ministry of Fisheries asked the Russian side to delay the inspection tour until March as February was a busy time, when Vietnamese people welcomed the traditional Tet.
In mid January 2007, Deputy Minister of Fisheries Nguyen Thi Hong Minh signed a decision, requesting Vietnamese seafood exporters to have the certificate on food hygiene for the products to be exported to Russia. The decision was made after Russian authorities set high requirements on seafood hygiene.
Under the decision, from January 15, in addition to the certificate under the form provided by VPSS, the exporters of seafood products to Russia must present the documents, showing that their processing establishments can meet the strict requirements on food hygiene.
As for the exporters that do not have processing workshops, their products will be allowed to be exported to Russia only when their products are processed in the establishments that have certificates on food hygiene. Besides, all seafood exporters must follow the requirements by Nafiqaved in labelling and coding export consignments.
In 2006, Vietnam exported 58,705 tonnes worth $126.3mil, increasing by 347% in quantity and 175% in value compared to the previous year.