Fish Farmers and Fishermen in this country are the ones that need to be protected. Not a country that is notorious for unsafe handling of their seafood exports.



Legislation introduced to protect Vietnamese catfish imports


Wednesday, March 09, 2011, 04:00 (GMT + 9)

Senators John McCain and Tom Coburn have introduced legislation to repeal duplicative federal regulations regarding the inspection and grading of Vietnamese catfish. The bill would annul a provision in the 2008 Farm Bill seeking to ban Vietnamese catfish imports and those of other potential trade partners.

Section 11016 of the Farm Bill, McCain told President Barack Obama in a letter, is simply the latest effort by members of Congress who are working toward the special interests of the catfish industry in their home states. He cited the unsuccessful attempt of many such members who in 2002 tried to make it illegal to label Vietnamese pangasius as catfish in US to discourage American consumers from buying it.

“Vietnamese catfish remain popular with American consumers because it’s more affordable and cheaper to produce than domestic catfish grown in aquaculture ponds,” McCain wrote. “Now these special interests are relying on this latest Farm Bill rider to over regulate Vietnamese catfish by, ironically, deeming pangasius a catfish again.”

“Under the guise of food safety, the 2008 Farm Bill directs the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) to inspect catfish like it does meat products or eggs, except that no other fish is under the regulatory thumb of the FSIS. Catfish is already regulated by Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which hasn’t reported any safety or health problems with the Vietnamese imports,” he said.

McCain insisted that US producers are only trying to raise barriers for Vietnamese pangasius farmers.

A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report has denounced this FSIS programme as ‘duplicative’ and ‘high risk’ for ‘fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement,’ estimating that the USDA would spend about USD 30 million in to implement the catfish inspection programme, he told.

“We’d be further fragmenting our federal food safety system by having catfish regulated twice by both USDA and FDA,” McCain stressed.

“Not only is the catfish provision in Section 11016 offensive to our principles of free trade, it flagrantly disregards our Bilateral Trade Agreement and relationship with Vietnam. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation,” he concluded.



By Natalia Real
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com