Test Run Starts On Tuna Laboratory In Philippines ff
23 January 2009
Philippines Written by: R. S. Sarmiento
Experts will test-run the facilities of a newly built private laboratory here designed to ensure high standards for tuna exports.
Ronnie P. Masicampo, executive director of the Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. chapter in Region 12 (Philexport 12), said the P5.3-million laboratory located at the fish port complex here will test tuna for chemical concentrations before export.
â€The laboratory had been set up already last December [after construction started in June], and what we are trying to do is test the equipment before it will be opened. Among other things, the laboratory was designed to detect histamine and mercury levels in fishes,†Mr. Masicampo said in a recent interview.
Both chemicals are closely watched by the European Union and the US Food and Drug Administration.
In the EU, the acceptable histamine level should not exceed 100 parts per million (ppm), while the US puts the cap at 50 ppm, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Region 12 laboratory chief Sarah Mae K. Mamalangkap said in a phone interview yesterday
Built with Export Development Council funding, the lab will supplement operations of BFAR 12’s lab in Barangay Lagao here.
â€This is a good development since the government-owned laboratory cannot really cope with the testing demands of exporters in the fishing sector. It will lighten our work load,†Ms. Mamalangkap said.
She added that the BFAR head office in Manila will issue accreditation to the private tuna lab.
Canned and fresh tuna products in this city, dubbed the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines,†are distributed mainly in Europe, US and Japan.
