Hanoi (VNS/VNA) -Vietnam will strengthen controls on Ethoxyquin in feed production for thefishery industry to ensure stability in seafood exports to the EU, according tothe Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Tran Dinh Luan, Director of the MARD’s Directorate of Fisheries, said accordingto an EU decision on controlling Ethoxyquin issued in 2017, the additive willbe banned from feed and feed materials for all animals, including aquaticproducts, from April 1 this year.

The ban was brought in due to fears the additive might cause a risk to human,animal health and the environment.

Ethoxyquin as a feed additive is used in the preservation of fish meal. Mostcountries set maximum residue limits (MRL) of Ethoxyquin between 77 ppm and150ppm (parts per million).

The EU regulation is different from the regulations of Japan, the Republic ofKorea and the US that have permissible limits of this substance in finishedseafood products.

Luan said from now until March 31, the directorate and localities would inspectthe use of Ethoxyquin in feed production.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien has requestedfeed producers review the use of Ethoxyquin according to the requirements ofexport markets, especially the EU, one of Vietnam’s largest seafood exportmarkets.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers(VASEP), in 2019, the EU was the largest export market of Vietnamese shrimpwith export value of about 700 million USD, 21 percent of national seafoodexport value. It was also the third largest export market of tra fishwith export value of 227 million USD, accounting for 11.5 percent.

Truong Dinh Hoe, VASEP General Secretary, said the association had informedlocal fishery businesses and animal feed producers about the EU regulation. Ithad also evaluated Ethoxyquin control at seafood factories as well asdifficulties in controlling residue of this additive in export products.
To help local enterprises andsupply chains control Ethoxyquin, the VASEP and fishery enterprises hadproposed the MARD request feed production enterprises print accurateinformation about Ethoxyquin on labels. Meanwhile, the Directorate of Fisherieswill inspect Ethoxyquin in feed products.

The ministry should propose the EU consider the use of Ethoxyquin in feedmaterials within limits, the association said.

VASEP has also taken 152 samples of raw shrimp for feed production to test forEthoxyquin, including samples from a lot of large feed companies, such as CP,Thang Long, Grobest, Uni President and Tong Wei. These large enterprises makeup about 70 percent of the domestic animal feed market.

The association found 83 of the samples did not meet the EU regulations onEthoxyquin, or nearly 55 percent of tested samples. Only raw shrimp of CP Vietnamdid not contain any Ethoxyquin.

The companies said they had not added Ethoxyquin in the feed production processand this substance had been found in fish meal imported from Peru and Chile fordomestic feed production. But the imports accounted for a small part of thetotal volume that those partners in Peru and Chile had exported globally. So,it was hard for them to ask fish meal suppliers to not mix Ethoxyquin infish meal sent to Vietnam, according to VASEP.

According to a representative of CP Vietnam, the company has requested its fishmeal and fish oil suppliers not supply feed materials containing Ethoxyquin. Ithas also strictly controlled Ethoxyquin residue in raw materials before use inproduction. Therefore, CP Vietnam’s feed products do not contain Ethoxyquin.

In Vietnam, the MRL of Ethoxyquin for seafood products is 150ppm while thepermissible limits of this substance for Vietnamese export seafood products inthe Republic of Korea and Japan are 0.01ppm and 0.2ppm, respectively./.