Japanese authorities have lifted an inspection order on black tiger shrimp from India, India’s Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) said in a statement on 4 April.
The decision was made after an expert team from Japan carried out an inspection visit to black tiger shrimp hatcheries, farms, and processing units in India from 2 to 6 March. The team gave clearance to India’s black tiger shrimp following the inspections and tests that found no residue of the synthetic anti-bacterial drug furazolidone in recent cargoes of shrimp sent to Japan.
The Food Inspection and Safety Division, operating under Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, conveyed the decision to the Embassy of India in Japan, the Export Inspection Council of India, and the MPEDA.
Following the lifting of the inspection order, the MHLW decided to decrease the sampling frequency for cargoes of black tiger shrimp from India from 100 percent to 30 percent, according to a 25 March ministry communique.
About 40 percent of black tiger shrimp from India is exported to Japan, with the remainder to the European Union, the United States, and other markets.
“The present decision by Japan will give an impetus to the farming and export of black tiger variety, which has been shadowed by the mass production of exotic vannamei variety during the last 10 years,” MPEDA Chairman Shri K S Srinivas said in the statement.
Srinivas said the Indian side actively worked with the Japanese authorities for months to get the order lifted.
MPEDA said it has strived to develop black tiger shrimp farming in India in recent years – providing local farmers with high-quality seeds from its Multispecies Aquaculture Complex (MAC) at Vallarpadam in Kochi, equipment and management techniques, and encouraging them to produce shrimp without antibiotics.
In a further effort to phase out the use of antibiotics, MPEDA recently launched Shaphari, a certification system that ensures postlarvae shrimp offered by hatcheries across the country are antibiotic-free.
MPEDA said it hopes its efforts will help boost the exports of high-quality shrimp from India.
Photo courtesy of Mati Nitibhon/Shutterstock
