European Union tells Indonesia to improve quality of fish products

European Union tells Indonesia to improve quality of fish products

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The 25-member European Union (EU) has been rejecting most of
Indonesian fish products for quite some time due to
contamination, so the fishing industry here must improve the
quality of its marine products, a senior EU official said on
Wednesday evening.

"There have been many rejected consignments (of fish exports)
this year. And we don't want trade to be affected, but we have no
choice unless the situation improves," European Commissioner for
Health and Consumer Protection Markos Kyprianou told The Jakarta
Post at the end of his three-day tour here.

Kyprianou arrived in Jakarta on Monday as part of his official
Southeast Asian tour to discuss avian influenza and food safety
with Indonesian officials.

Indonesian fishing products, mainly tuna, were found to be
contaminated with heavy metals; enough to endanger human health,
said Kyprianou, who also met with Minister of Maritime Affairs
and Fisheries Freddy Numberi during his stay.

"We expressed our concern during our meeting with the
minister. We want fish that is grown in a natural way. So the
Indonesian government must take effective measures to deal with
this problem," he said, while offering technical advice from the
EU to improve the quality of the fish products.

Meanwhile, the ministry's director general for fish processing
and marketing Martani Husaini said in Banjarmasin, South
Kalimantan, on Tuesday that the EU and the U.S. had imposed an
embargo on all shell fish from Indonesia.

"Our shell fish and other marine products are contaminated
with heavy metals and raw sewage. So, we have to improve the
quality of our products," he was quoted by Antara news agency as
saying.

Despite all these problems, Indonesian exports of fishery
products reached 250 million euro (US$287 million) last year.

By increasing the quality of fishery products, according to
Kyprianou, Indonesia can benefit from the huge European market.