Under new regulation, only the enterprises that meet the standards on food hygiene set by the Ministry of Fisheries will be allowed to export seafood to Japan.
Deputy Minister of Fisheries Luong Le Phuong has released Decision No 06 on applying urgent measures to control the chemical residues in seafood exports. Under the decision, seafood exporters will have to have 100% of their exports of crustaceans and mollusks examined for prohibited antibiotic residues.

The decision will go into effect on July 26, 2007.
 
According to the decision, after that effectiveness date, enterprises which have had 3 consignments (even prior to the enactment of the decision) determined by Japanese authorities to contain prohibited substances will not be allowed to export consignments of crustaceans (shrimp, crab) and mollusks (cuttlefish, octopus).

The Ministry of Fisheries has announced that enterprises will only be allowed to resume exports of crustacean and mollusk products to Japan after they have reported to the ministry, settled the problems effectively, and their products get the recognition from the National Fisheries Quality Assurance and Veterinary Directorate (Nafiqaved) on food hygiene.
 
Enterprises’ exports will only get exemption from being examined if they have at least 10 consecutive consignments of exports of crustacean and mollusk products meeting the required standards on food hygiene, and are not stopped by Japanese authorities.
 
The newly promulgated decision has also asked seafood processing companies to more tightly control input materials. Processors will be forced to control 100% of the materials they collect for processing. Seafood exporters will also have to write down the sources of materials on the finished products.

The Ministry of Fisheries has asked Nafiqaved to urgently build up the regulations on the supervision and inspection by state management authorities over the production conditions of enterprises.

The lately released decision on controlling the quality of seafood exports to Japan has been enacted after the red flag from the market, especially after the letter of warning from the Japanese Ambassador in Vietnam. The Ministry of Fisheries has declared a state of emergency on the quality of seafood products, and had meetings with enterprises, discussing solutions for the current problems.