Karnataka - Mangalore   

Testing will reduce EU ‘red alerts’: expert

MANGALORE: India’s efforts to reduce European Union “red alerts” against its fish products is bearing fruit, according to I. Karunasagar, Senior Fishery Industry Officer (Quality), with Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

Mr. Karunasagar told The Hindu on the sidelines of a workshop on harmful algae and biotoxins at the College of Fisheries here on Monday that Indian consignments of shrimp were subjected to red alert at least 10 to 15 times in 2003. They were found to contain antibiotics such as nitrofurantoin. Red alert against fisheries products meant that each consignment from the country is looked at with suspicion. It had to undergo further tests before being accepted in Europe. Each rejected consignment meant a loss of millions of dollars for traders.

He said Indian shrimp has been under red alert for the last five years. The danger was that every alert is listed in a website and made known across all fish-trading locations.

Taken aback by a series of red alerts, the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) had established as many as 10 laboratories in the country with Liquid Chromatograph Mass Spectrophotometers (LCMS). Each equipment, which costs Rs. 1.5 crore, is used to analyse harmful content in fish products. They have come up in three locations in Andhra Pradesh, Kochi and Mangalore, in other places. The one in Mangalore has been set up at the College of Fisheries, Mr. Karunasagar said.

He said in Andhra Pradesh, where shrimp culture is doing well, 40 to 50 tests are being done. Elsewhere, the number of tests being conducted were not that many. The tests were available for a nominal fee. There was a need to create further awareness about the facility, he added.

However, the red alerts had come down drastically and Indian products had reported zero red alerts for one of the banned antibiotics, though it continued to be bracketed for nitrofurantoin. Even in the case of nitrofurantoin, the frequency of red alert had come down. He said India was not the only country facing this problem. Several member countries (of the UN) faced 70 to 80 red alerts every year. They had sought help from the FAO, which was trying to intervene effectively. It was promoting setting up of LCMS laboratories and creating awareness among exporters on avoiding use of banned drugs in aquaculture.

It had joined hands with the organisers of the workshop on harmful algae and biotoxins here as part of this intervention.

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