Improved sealing, Codex compliance for tuna exports
To maintain its position as the world's number one exporter of tuna fish, Thailand has officially implemented a standard for tuna and bonito, the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry said last week.
The new standard requires producers to improve the sealing of canned tuna and bonito, said Sorapon Terapat, director of the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards. Also, additives used such as preservatives must comply with guidelines set by Codex, the international food-standards body set up in 1963 by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Health Organisation. The guideline would effect five different kinds of products: large fish chunks with and without skin, medium-sized and small tuna and other varieties. Sorapon said that in addition to the new standard, quality control and random tests would be carried out. He hoped that compliance with all of these directives would raise the level of competitiveness of Thai tuna and bonito in the global market. The world tuna market has great potential for growth. Last year Thailand exported frozen, processed and filleted tuna and bonito totalling 562,073 tonnes, valued at Bt52.7 billion. In the first nine months of this year, 445,667 tonnes of canned tuna and bonito was exported, worth Bt41.4 billion.
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