KKP Operates Radioactive Testing Lab to Support Fishery Exports

The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) is operating a laboratory to test for radioactive contamination in fishery products to support the competitiveness and acceptance of Indonesian fishery exports in the global market, especially the United States. Ishartini, Head of the Agency for Quality Control and Supervision of Marine and Fishery Products (Badan Mutu KKP), stated that the laboratory, located at the Centre for Quality Control and Food Safety Standards Testing for Fishery Products (BUSPM) in Cipayung, East Jakarta, has received ISO 17025 accreditation. “In addition, the laboratory has obtained approval from Bapeten as the nuclear regulatory authority and approval from the US FDA to conduct testing on a number of radioactive parameters, including Cs-137,” Ishartini said in a press statement in Jakarta on Friday. She explained that the laboratory for testing Cesium-137 (Cs-137) contamination in fishery products was built specifically to support the acceptance of Indonesian fishery products, particularly shrimp, in various export destination countries. According to Ishartini, the BUSPM laboratory is the only facility for testing radionuclides in food of fish origin in Indonesia and the first in Southeast Asia. “The BUSPM lab can test quality and food safety parameters including bacteria, viruses, chemicals, heavy metals, residues, and now radionuclide parameters for food of fish origin,” she said. She added that the laboratory’s test results can be used to process the Quality and Safety Certificate for Fishery Products (SMKHP) as one of the export requirements to countries that require products free from radioactive contamination, such as the United States. The existence of this laboratory is expected to strengthen the quality assurance and safety system for Indonesian fishery products amidst increasingly stringent international trade requirements. From 31 October 2025 to 11 June 2026, the KKP recorded that it had facilitated the export of 4,072 containers of shrimp to the United States. Of that total, 3,370 containers have entered the US market with a volume of 51,607 tonnes valued at IDR 8.78 trillion.