Vietnamese shrimp and fish exports found to have antibiotic residue Vietnamese seafood exporters have spent a lot of money on programs to control antibiotic residue in exports, but they still face problems in the world market.   The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) has reported that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) refused 107 batches of shrimp from India, Malaysia, China and Vietnam in the first two months of the year. The exports contained nitrofurantoin, an antibiotic used to treat urinary tract infection, the FDA said. Tran Van Linh, general director of Thuan Phuoc Seafood JSC, said that Vietnamese exports were prohibited from entering foreign markets if antibiotics were found by importers. Therefore, Thuan Phuoc has spent $1 million a year just to control antibiotic residues in exports. However, it still has problems. “Thuan Phuoc has sent its staff to supervise the farming process and examine materials provided by merchants. However, we sometimes still mistakenly accept shrimp with antibiotic residues,” he said. Nguyen Van Dao, general director of Go Dang JSC, noted that it was much more difficult to control antibiotics in shrimp than other aquatic creatures, because shrimp more easily catch diseases. Instead of using antibiotics in reasonable doses, Vietnamese farmers tend to use medicine in an uncontrolled manner, thus leading to high antibiotic residues. Dao said seafood export companies have to collect shrimp from many different sources, either from farmers, merchants or from imports; therefore, they find it difficult to track down the source of materials. Truong Dinh Hoe, VASEP’s secretary general, noted that the majority of Vietnamese enterprises follow very strict regulations to control the quality of input materials. The products in dispute are from several companies which have been undisciplined in their selection of materials. Linh from Thuan Phuoc thinks that the problem can be settled only if antibiotic supply sources are put under control. He noted that state management agencies had not tightened control over the seafood antibiotics market. “I believe that it is easier to buy antibiotics in Vietnam than any other country in the world,” he said. “You can buy antibiotics everywhere, while there are many products with no origin declared.” The director of a seafood company noted that all exports have to undergo a Nafiqad (National Agro-forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department) examination before going abroad. However, the agency does not assume responsibility if exports are turned away because of antibiotic residue. However, the director said that Nafiqad only tests samples taken from export consignments, and does not examine whole batches of products. He said that controlling the antibiotics market is the best solution to the antibiotic residue problem. PL TPHCM