Webinar: Experts tackle catfish confusion

Editor’s note: On Tuesday, SeafoodSource hosted a webinar titled “Catfish Confusion: Making Sense of the Rule Transferring Regulation of Catfish from the FDA to USDA.” The webinar was recorded and is now available on SeafoodSource. Click here to listen to the webinar. To access it, you must be a premium member. Premium members get access to all webinars (live and recorded), audio, video and industry reports. 

Though a draft rule for transferring inspection of catfish from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to the U.S. Department of Agriculture took more than two years to complete, many questions remain unanswered.

In an attempt to tackle the confusion, SeafoodSource hosted a webinar on Tuesday with attorneys Robert Hibbert and Karl Nobert of the Washington, D.C., law firm K&L Gates and Matt Fass, president of seafood importer Maritime Products International in Newport News, Va.

Among the issues that remain unclear while the draft rule undergoes a 120-day public comment period is why catfish is the only seafood species being targeted for USDA inspections, whether pangasius will be included in the rule’s definition of catfish, and what the USDA’s requirement for “continuous inspections” will mean for catfish farmers and processors, both domestically and abroad.

Hibbert pointed out that U.S. catfish farmers, who were in favor of the measure, may suffer growing pains from the transfer to a stricter inspection system. 

Domestically “you’re going to find some people who are ready and can move into this without too much pain and suffering, but you’re going to see people who aren’t ready for it,” said Hibbert. “There’s going to be, I think, for some people a bit of a rude awakening.”

For foreign producers, however, the transfer to USDA inspections could have much greater implications. If pangasius from Vietnam is included in the definition of catfish, it could interrupt the flow of product into the U.S. market, said Fass. That’s because the USDA requires that a suitable inspection agency be in place before it will accept imports.

“If the broader definition (including pangasius) is adopted, not only will the plants have to be up to speed but the host governments will have to satisfy the United States that they’re up to speed as well,” explained Hibbert.

In the hour-long discussion, panelists also outlined the four phases of implementation proposed in the draft rule, discussed what the politics on Capitol Hill could mean for the measure — including the possibility of no funding — and made suggestions for what companies could do while the rule is in the midst the 120-day public comment period.

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