Argentine red shrimp | Pleoticus muelleri

Brazil updates zoosanitary requirements for shrimp imports

ARGENTINA
Thursday, July 04, 2019, 02:00 (GMT + 9)

There are new requirements for the entry of crustaceans and related products from extractive fisheires or aquaculture to this country. After six years of impediments, since last month Argentina can export the species Pleoticus muelleri to its main Mercosur partner.

The Federative Republic of Brazil has updated the zoosanitary requirements for the importation of crustaceans,  related products and by-products from extractive fisheries or aquaculture.  These equirements apply to products of wild Patagonian shrimp, whose export to the main partner of Mercosur was enabled after a Brasilian court last month annulled a precautionary measure that since 2013 had prohibited the entry of the species Pleoticus muelleri.

Argentina and Ecuador managed to lift the legal impediments to the entry of wild or cultivated shrimps, following a sustained legal-commercial strategy on the part of the Brazilian Association of Shrimp Breeders (ABCC).

Now the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply of Brazil (MAPA), updated the zoosanitary requirements for the import of crustaceans, related products and by-products that originate in extractive fishing or aquaculture.

Cooked products

The parameters set in 2017 and recently updated establish for crustacean products of any origin and of any kind, the following animal health requirements: "Hermetically sealed crustacean products require heat sterilization by heat treatment at 121 ° C for at least 3,6 minutes. "

Another equivalent processing approved by the Department of Animal Health: "For cooked crustacean products it is required to bake at 100 °C for at least 3 minutes. While pasteurized crustacean products are required to be baked at 90 °C for at least 20 minutes," the ministry details.

The health regulations also provide specifications for meals and oil from these species: "For crustacean meals, the raw material must be coocked at least  at 100 °C for 3 minutes; followed by drying between 115 and 138 °C. Meanwhile, for crustacean oil, it is requested that the raw material be cooked at temperatures of 95-100 °C for 15-20 minutes. The cooked material is then pressed and the product of this pressing is heated to 90-95 °C, producing the oil. The oil is decanted in hot water at 90 °C ", it is detailed as requirements for those who intend to export meals or oils from shrimp waste.

In another section it is stated that "crustacean products for any purpose are exempt from the requirements of animal health and the International Sanitary Certificate: chemically extracted chitin; chitosan extracted by chemical methods. "

Box of shrimp produced by Argennova (Subsidiary of Pescanova in Argentina)

Ready for human consumption

On the other hand, the updated requirements estipulate that for products of "processed crustaceans ready for human consumption, e.g.: Frozen meals containing crustaceans, ready to heat; Canned products containing crustaceans; or Crustaceans and / or canned pickles; Breaded crustaceans ready for domestic warming; Marinated crustaceans; Crustaceans processed into cakes, empanadas, spring rolls and the like; or other processed crustacean products ready for human consumption intended for direct sale to the consumer, the products must be accompanied by an International Health Certificate in Portuguese issued or approved by the official Service of the exporting country."

The same requirement applies to "shrimp of all kinds, with whole skin and headless or clean (peeled, headless and gutted), refrigerated or frozen, raw or precooked, packed, intended for retail trade, for human consumption."

Reprocessing

Also, in the case of block imports for reprocessing: "Imported crustaceans can only be destined to a processing plant duly approved by the Federal Inspection Service (SIF), where the standards of good manufacturing practices are to be applied."

Finally, it is warned that "at the discretion of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply of Brazil (MAPA), samples of imported products can be collected for analysis and testing."

Author: Nelson Saldivia / Revista Puerto

Related article:

- Argentine shrimp can reenter the Brazilian market

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