A contentious new law in the United States that tightens inspection rules for catfish is striking fear into the heart of the Vietnamese pangasius industry.
Pangasius exporters in Vietnam are now desperately worried about not being able to meet the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) new inspection rules for catfish, which came into effect in March. In fact, they worry they could lose the valuable U.S. market altogether.
Under the new rules, pangasius is now recognized as a catfish species by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), despite its previous ruling to the contrary. Its new categorization qualifies it for additional inspections, which will increase the expense and difficulty of importing it to the U.S.
Of course, the Vietnamese exporters may be worrying unnecessarily. The catfish rule doesn’t become mandatory until August 2017 – there is an 18-month transitional implementation period – and the U.S. Senate recently voted to scrap the new inspection program altogether because it was deemed wasteful and unnecessary…
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