Recent Feedback
We have a supplier of mackerel in Thailand, that tells us, that the Thai government has decided that we can no longer buy the species Decapterus maruadsi as mackerel, since the EU no longer allows this. Instead they´ve offered us a more expensive species Scomber Japonicus. However I have tried asking the Danish Food Authorities and searched the web for any mention of this, and have not been able to find any information to this matter. I need the reference to the specific legislation where we can find info as to whether their statement is correct or not. Kind regards XXXXX XXXXX
Dear Mrs. Schønwandt,
Did they perhaps refer to any specific provision from Thai Government?
I look forward to your reply.
Many thanks,
Tiziana
Dear Tiziana! No unfortunately not. Kind regards Henriette
Dear Henriette,
the EU system of food control requires an official certification of safety from the competent authority of the non-EU country. This authority has to be recognized by the EU commission which tests the reliability of the competent authority through the
the Food and Veterinary Office.
You can find more specific information on how the EU system for food control works on this website: http://ec.europa.eu/food/international/trade/im_cond_fish_en.pdf
Thailand has created an authority for food control in 2001 and it has been recognized by the Commission. I suggest you to contact through the following website the Thai competent authority http://www.fda.moph.go.th/eng/food/index.stm to discover whether or not they have enacted a provision against the export of Decapterus maruadsi to EU countries.
I hope this answers your question.
I remain at your complete disposal should you need any further information.
Kind regards,
This did not actually answer my question, since the response focuses on health safety, and my question was about whether a specific fish species was allowed to be imported to the EU or not.
I apologize if I have not sufficiently explained in my former answer that the EU system is specifically based on food health safety grounds. The Commission import rules for fishery products are aimed to guarantee that all imports fulfill the same high standards as products from the EU Member States - with respect to hygiene and consumer safety and, if relevant, also to the animal health status.
The Commission continuously controls the safety of the food through the national authorities of the Country where the food comes from.
In Thailand the competent national authority for food control is the one that I linked you in the above answer.
Joint inspections between the national authorities and the EU inspectors were performed in many occasions to ensure that all the EU Directives and regulations concerned are strictly complied with.
The reason why this kind of fish can be banned is because of the growing presence of Cadmium and Arsenic which recently has even been studied by academic scientific literature because of the possibility of exceeding the standard limited level of food issued by the Commission and, accordingly, the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand.
That's the reason why I suggested you to contact the competent Thai authorities.
I hope this clarifies my answer.
Experience: Solicitor - Ph.D. Doctor Europaeus in EU law