Japan has lifted inspection order for Indian shrimps
India is likely to see a rise in seafood exports to Japan, as the country has lifted inspection orders for Indian Black Tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon). The development came after Japan found export consignments of this shrimp to be free from all sorts of the residue of synthetic anti-bacterial drug furazolidone. The confirmation on Japan lifting the inspection orders was made by officials of the state-run Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) said.
Black Tiger shrimp, commonly known as the giant tiger prawn or Asian Tiger shrimp is available year-round and is one of Asia’s major aquaculture products. It is striped like its name and is farmed, though a significant amount is harvested from the wild by trawlers working mud bottoms from very shallow water to depths beyond 300 feet.
Though several countries supply black tigers from both farmed and wild sources, India accounts for nearly 6 per cent of the global fish production and is the largest producer of shrimps in the world.
The species is distributed over a huge range, from the east and southeast Africa through the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf, around the Indian subcontinent and through the Malay Archipelago to northern Australia and the Philippines.
Important suppliers include Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Malaysia. Asian suppliers generally offer state-of-the-art packing and processing; many follow HACCP guidelines developed for US operations.
Japan consumes nearly 40% of India’s Black Tiger shrimp exports.
According to MPEDA Chairman KS Srinivas, Japanese agency has also reduced import inspection sampling frequency for Black Tiger shrimp to 30 per cent from the current 100 per cent.
Welcoming the lifting of inspection order by Japan, Srinivas said it is a validation of the relentless efforts undertaken by the MPEDA in raising the request at various platforms and through its trade promotion office in Tokyo.
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