RI seafood meets U.S. standards, official says

A team from the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has rated Indonesian seafood as safe for consumption Friday after wrapping up its 10-day inspection of the fishery industry in four provinces, an Indonesian official says.

"They said that our fishery processing and quality has met the U.S. standards. On a zero to 10 scale, they said we got an eight," Fisheries and Marine Affairs spokesman Saut P. Hutagalung told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He said the FDA team had checked on fish ponds and processing units in East Java, North Sumatra and West Nusa Tenggara and examined several fishery laboratories in Jakarta from last Thursday.

"They advised us on how to improve systems for keeping, processing and checking on our seafood products to enhance their quality," Saut said.

He said one piece of advice was to apply the "traceable principle" by recording when fish are fed, what is fed to them and where the supplies came from.

He added that the U.S. team members offered the ministry assistance in understanding U.S. expectations for the fishing industry.

The ministry data shows that the U.S. is the largest recipient of Indonesian seafood exports with US$691 million in 2006, followed by Japan and the European Union with $630 million and $235 million respectively.

Indonesia's exports to the U.S. have increased over the last three years from $527 million in 2004 and $591 million in 2005.

Early last month, China and Indonesia were involved in a trade spat that saw the Chinese government apply a total ban on all Indonesian seafood.

Local businesspeople say the ban came without any prior notification or laboratory tests, which China claims turned up toxins, dangerous chemicals and pathogens.

The Chinese government said Indonesian seafood had been found to be tainted with mercury and cadmium, metals that can accumulate in water and soil as a result of burning garbage, mining and other industrial process. Both have been linked to nerve damage, cancer and other health problems.

China also said Indonesian seafood had been found to contain nitrofural, an anti-bacterial agent that laboratory tests on animals have shown could cause cancer. The Chinese ban followed international scrutiny of everything from toothpaste to toys, tires and fish from the country.

"We are now expecting the Chinese delegation in Jakarta to discuss the ban further after we went to Beijing last month. We hope we can have a ministerial level MoU (memorandum of understanding) with China in October to settle the problem," Saut said. (The Jakarta Post)