Philippine Tuna Firms Fail EU Standards ff

Not a single tuna processor or marine exporter in General Santos City in the Philippines passed the stringent standards required by the European Union (EU) based on an inspection made in July by a team from the EU, announced Emmanuel Koh, Procurement Manager of A & J Seafoods and Marine Products.

Mr. Koh, however, said the EU has given the firms time to comply with the requirements. He said inspection team will be back next month to see if local companies have complied with the food safety standards of the European market.

He also said that local companies are working to improve their systems and that expansion works are going on at the General Santos City Fish Port Complex, in Barangay Tambler, to meet EU standards.

The $26-million expansion works at the 32-hectare fish port complex are expected to be finished in May 2006.

Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban earlier said the completion of the expansion project would mean bigger chances for local tuna products to further penetrate the EU.

He stressed that the expansion project at the fish port is intended to comply with the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, an EU requirement for imported fish products.

“Once finished, the improved fish port could give many things for the tuna industry. We are particularly optimistic with regard to the chances of our fish products in the European Union market,” he said.

HACCP is a system that aims to assure food safety and quality from the stage of harvest to consumption. It focuses on identifying the potential quality and safety problems to prevent hazards, the methods to achieve this and the mechanism to provide assurance that the preventive methods have been applied properly, the first time and every time.

Meanwhile, South Cotabato First District Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio was confident the expansion project could be completed ahead of the deadline.

“The expansion is already 25-percent completed. But actually, we are 30 percent ahead of the schedule with regard to the actual physical completion,” she said last month.

Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza said the expansion projects at the fish port started last June.

“Expanding our General Santos fish port will maintain General Santos City’s competitive edge as the country’s tuna capital and as a key player in the international tuna market and this brings a promise of an increased export earning needed to further boost Mindanao's economy,” he said.

Expansion projects involve the construction of two wharves measuring 500 meters, a 1,500-metric ton capacity cold storage facility, a wastewater treatment plant and a power substation, as well as the installation of a port-handling equipment.

Dureza said the implementation of expansion works followed the completion of its “Detailed Engineering Design,” and the approval of the 2005 budget sourced from the loan agreement between the Department of Finance and the China National Constructional and Agricultural Machinery Import/Export Corporation.