Creation of body urged to oppose EU treatment of RP’s sea products

The Seaweed Industry Association of the Philippines (SIAP) is pushing for the creation of a permanent private sector-led national committee that will oppose the European Union’s proposal to impose more stringent rules for the entry of the country’s major seafood and marine products by 2003.

SIAP president Benson Dakay whose Cebu-based Shemberg Marketing Corp. is one of the world’s largest seaweed exporter, said the Department of Agriculture (DA) through its attached agency, the National Agricultural and Fishery Council (NAFC), should already be organizing a national Codex committee that will be sent to the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) which will meet in The Netherlands in March next year.

CAC is the international body tasked with developing a food code known as the Codex Alimentarius, the global reference point for harmonized or uniform foods standards to ensure the protection of public health and fair practices in the food trade.

Dakay said the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC) will have a plenary session next March to discuss, among others, a proposal made earlier by developed countries in the European Union to implement a new maximum level of 0.2 parts per million (ppm) of lead contaminants on fish, marine and aquaculture products.

"In effect, this will make it very difficult for the Philippines to sell her marine produce in the international markets," Dakay said.

Currently, tuna has a minimum lead content of 0.4 ppm while other marine products even reach 0.9 to 0.10 ppm.

The move to impose a new maximum level of 0.2 ppm on lead and other heavy metals is being lobbied by the European Union which is also exacting high tariffs to block the entry of tuna imports.

The Philippines last March was able to convince the CCFAC to consider the position of the country on maximum levels of heavy metals in marine and fishery products, but the final decision will be made March next year in the plenary session.

In discussions earlier this year, participants noted that the level of 0.2 ppm for fish was too low for several fish species. The Philippine delegation led by Alicia Lustre, director of the Food Development Center (FDC), noted that the establishment of maximum levels by species will create problems in trade since it is difficult to gather data for all species.

Other countries pointed out that a criteria should be developed to determine when lead was considered to be a significant contributor to exposure, as it was not evident that exposure to lead through fish consumption leads to health risks, and that more information should be gathered on analytical methods and detection limits.

Dakay said that while there is already a Codex subcommittee formed by NAFC, a permanent national committee to be led and partly funded by the private sector will be better to push the country’s position.

"A well-prepared and regular Philippine participation in the international committee of CCFAC, the Joint Export Committee in Food Additive and other committees throughout the world will ultimately benefit the country and the fish and marine industries,’’ Dakay said.