Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Monitors Foreign Fish Suppliers to Protect Food Safety

Jakarta — The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) has tightened supervision of foreign companies supplying fresh fish-based foodstuffs (PSAI) to Indonesia in accordance with Government Regulation Number 1 of 2026 on Food Safety.

Ishartini, Head of the Agency for Quality Control and Supervision of Marine and Fishery Products (KKP Quality Agency), emphasised that the ministry had commenced registration of foreign companies as part of its competent authority for quality and safety of fishery products.

“This measure ensures that fish-based foodstuffs entering Indonesia have implemented standards for sanitation, hygiene, and food safety in order to protect consumer health,” she stated in a press release received in Jakarta on Monday.

Ishartini explained that supervision is conducted through quality surveys, laboratory testing, and registration of foreign fresh fish-based food suppliers.

She stressed that only companies with a KKP registration number are permitted to trade fishery commodities into Indonesia.

Registration numbers are issued following rigorous inspection by KKP Quality Inspectors under a pre-border inspection scheme to ensure quality assurance is maintained from production through to the point the product enters the national supply chain.

Ishartini noted that the KKP has established foreign companies eligible to trade fishery commodities into Indonesia through a Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) mechanism with competent authorities of partner nations.

She detailed that seven countries fall under the MRA scheme: Vietnam (849 companies), South Korea (184), Saudi Arabia (1), Norway (42), Canada (24), Russia (11), and China (798).

For countries without an MRA, in accordance with the Food Safety regulation, fishery products must pass quality testing at laboratories designated by the KKP before they can enter and circulate in the Indonesian market.

Whilst tightening oversight of imported products, Ishartini noted that Indonesia remains one of the world’s largest net exporters of fishery products.

According to KKP records, during the January–September 2025 period, the volume of fishery commodity exports reached 1,003,349.76 tonnes, valued at over 4 billion US dollars. Meanwhile, imports totalled 308,905.29 tonnes valued at 463,552 US dollars.