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Sunday, December 18, 2005
Tuna producers get reprieve from EU
TUNA producers and processors here heaved a sigh of relief after the European Union decided to reschedule its inspection of their facilities for next year.
The European team was supposed to arrive last for a two-week inspection swing in major fish port facilities in the country.
Santiago Martinez, manager of the General Santos City Fish Port Complex, said the European Union reset its scheduled inspection either by February or March next year to give producers more time to comply with its production safety requirements.
"This is a welcome break. We really would want to comply with the standards of the European Union. Failure to get do so would have a drastic effect on our tuna industry," he said.
Martinez pointed out that Europe is a huge market for the local tuna industry next only to the United States and Japan.
But as part of efforts to pass the union's accreditation, he said this early they are already strict on workers not wearing proper hygiene gears like rubber boots, hand gloves and hair nets.
Smoking and wearing of sleeveless shirts would also not be allowed inside the fishport, Martinez said.
Marfenio Tan, president of the Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, Inc., disclosed that tuna and other marine export firms had already initiated expansion projects to comply with the standard set by the European Union.
Last July, Tan said, the European Union also conducted an inspection of facilities of local exporting firms here and found several needs for improvements.
Emmanuel Koh, procurement manager of A & J Seafoods and Marine Products, earlier revealed that not a single firm here met the stringent standards required by the European Union.
Apart from individual improvements initiated by the local companies, Koh said that the ongoing expansion works at the General Santos City Fish Port Complex in Barangay Tambler are also aimed at meeting international standards.
Expansion works at the fish port complex is expected to be finished in May next year at a tune of US$26 million.
By 2006, the European Union reportedly wants to increase the allowable maximum lead content on fish to a higher 0.02 parts per million (ppm) from the present 0.05 ppm.
Lead is among the heavy metal contaminants that are being watched by the union.
(December 12, 2005 issue)
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