Local tuna producers in the Philippines are urging the government to support them in lobbying for renewed access to the multi-billion dollar Japanese frozen and smoked tuna market.
Members of Fresh Frozen Tuna Association also want Japan to lift its import ban on local smoked fish products.
The General Santos-based association has contested the ban, saying it lacked scientific evidence and dislocated at least 12,000 people indirectly and directly dependent on the $60-million smoked tuna industry.
“It’s been nine years now and still counting, but we never lose hope that Japan would see the logic that our smoked fish products do not at all cause any health problems as evidenced by a recent US advisory we sought earlier,†association consultant Dick Alves said.
Alves said the biggest controversy about the issue was that several well-established Japanese companies were using the same filter smoke technology in the production of yellowtail, or hamachi.
“If the Japanese government said that filtered smoked tuna is indeed harmful to the health of consumers, why are some Japanese companies exporting filter-smoked products to other countries and generate huge revenues in the process,†said association president Jake Lu.
Japan’s Department of Health and Welfare, also known as Kouseisho, banned on May 21, 1997 the production, sale and importation of all smoked tuna, hamachi (yellowtail) and tilapia products on the ground that filter-smoke fish products pose health risks to consumers.
In a recent letter to Japanese minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries Nakagawa Shouichi, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources asked Shouichi to explain the ban’s rationale, citing the issues raised by local tuna processors.
Fisheries and Aquatic Resources director Malcolm Sarmiento said that while Philippine smoked-processed tuna products continue to enjoy market access in the US, the same products were deemed unsafe by Japan.