Vietnam sends tra fish equivalence assessment to U.S.

Vietnam has submitted an equivalence assessment of tra fish to the United States, said Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

He told the Daily that the U.S. requires countries whose tra fish products are exported to the U.S., including Vietnam, to complete the second step of the equivalence determination process before August 31.

The equivalence process has six steps: exporting country submits written requests to the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), exporting country completes the self-reporting tool (SRT) and accompanying documents, FSIS reviews the documents and requires additional information, FSIS carries out actual inspections in exporting country, FSIS initiates rulemaking for comments, and FSIS recognizes equivalence by a final rule.

The equivalence determination is carried out under FSIS’s mandatory inspection program for fish of the order Siluriformes, including tra fish, which came into effect on March 1, 2016, with a transitional period until August 31, 2017.

According to the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (Nafiqad), the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam said the U.S. has received the tra fish equivalence assessment from Vietnam.

Nafiqad said it contains the answernaire for the SRT and over 1,500 pages proving that Vietnam’s food safety inspection system for tra fish matches the U.S.’s equivalent level.

According to Hoe, after reviewing Vietnam’s documents, the U.S. will carry out the last four steps in the process. “The next steps are scheduled to begin from September 1, 2017 and tra fish export to the U.S. continues as usual until FSIS announces the final rule.”

Hoe stressed that the determination time depends on the U.S.

Duong Quoc Nghia, chairman of the Vietnam Pangasius Association (VINAPA), said that in the first seven months of 2017, Vietnam’s tra fish exports grew 6.9% against the same period last year to US$996.5 million, with shipments to the U.S. totaling US$223 million, down 1% year-on-year.