EU frets over use of antibiotics in India's primary shrimp production

A miffed Union wants Indian authorities to control overall production, so shrimps meant for domestic market don't end up in Europe

The European Union, which accounts for about 18 per cent of India's seafood exports valued at $5.7 billion, is apparently miffed with no official controls in primary production of shrimps in India.

An audit team from EU had visited the Indian farm and processing facilities in November last year.

Trade sources in UK said that an EU official, at the recently concluded Brussels Seafood Show, pointed out that official controls in India do not fully cover all primary production. This is undermining the ability of the competent authorities to guarantee that non-eligible fishery products are excluded from export to the EU.

EU's recommendations to India in the audit report are likely to focus on exercising better control over primary production.

The EU official has reportedly said that the Indian system is focused on monitoring exporting producers only, which is not sufficient as it is not possible to distinguish between areas of primary production for the domestic market and areas of primary production for the export market.

The audit report of the visiting EU team is likely to suggest that the Indian competent authority continue to ensure that suppliers of shrimp to EU market are regularly inspected to verify the EU hygiene provisions.

The focus for improvement and risk mitigation at the primary production level is likely to find the place in the final report of the audit team.

The European Commission may ask Indian authorities for a better understanding of the situation by the various departments and cooperation between inspection services regarding shrimp production at the farm level.

The report of the November audit has not been published yet because EU officials would like to have some preliminary results from the current audit that is looking at antibiotics residue, said a trade source.

EU is seriously worried over the use of antibiotics in Indian shrimps- a fact that has surfaced continuously in its findings. It had strengthened its inspection norms for aquaculture products sent from India.

Earlier, the norm was to test samples from at least 10 per cent of the consignments, which was enhanced to 50 per cent in 2016.