Demand for frozen smoked tuna products in the international markets, particularly in the European Union, has plummeted, Philippine tuna industry leaders revealed.
According to Marfenio Tan, president of the Philippine - Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries, Inc., they started noticing the trend recently when the European Union discovered unsafe frozen smoked tuna products from other countries.
Tan said they are urging the government to lobby with EU and
He said this development is hampering Philippine export performance and is a major lost business opportunity because of foreign authorities’ “misunderstanding†of frozen smoked process and product.
The fishing industry contributes about $80 million a year in export revenues and provides jobs to about 100,000 workers nationwide, industry records show. The frozen smoked tuna sector reportedly provides a lifeline for thousands of families of small handline fishermen.
Tan, in defending the frozen smoked tuna sector, said that processors have established a sound Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point system for years, producing safe food products for export to the
He stressed that the US Food and Drug Administration has declared that both smoked processed and even carbon monoxide-treated frozen tuna products do not pose health hazards to the consumers.
Tan called on the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the Department of Foreign Affairs to work for the lifting of the ban in the EU and
“The industry is confident that earnest efforts by the government in resolving issues on frozen smoked tuna in the European Union market would shed light to all the confusion and bring back the life of the industry,†he said.
In a related development, local tuna producers lamented that tuna exports have not yet reached their full potential in the
He urged the government to address this matter to make Philippine tuna products more competitive in the
Source: Philippine Press