RP tuna exporters fear loss of business due to stricter EU food standards

GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The Philippines’ $400-million tuna industry is being threatened anew by determined moves in the European Union (EU) to reduce the maximum allowable lead content in tuna and other fishery exports.

At the 7th National Tuna Congress here, Food Development Center director Dr. Alicia O. Lustre who represents the Philippine government in the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC) of the World Trade Organization’s Codex Alementarius Commission (CAC) said EU’s move will displace the Philippine tuna industry, the bulk of which is located in Southern Mindanao.

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

Currently, tuna catch here is about 1,000 metric tons (MT) daily and earns export revenues of about $400 million annually. It is the leading supplier of canned tuna, high value sashimi tuna and tuna steaks to the Japanese, European and American markets. Six out of eight tuna canneries nationwide are located in this city.

The EU and US markets account for about 75 percent of world tuna consumption. The EU market accounts for 42 percent of the country’s tuna exports and comprises 49 percent of canned tuna exports.

The EU has been pressuring the CCFAC to impose by 2006, a new maximum allowable lead content of 0.02 parts per million (ppm) from 0.05 ppm.

This is not feasible at this point for Philippine tuna which contains an average lead content of 0.05 ppm. The same level is present in tuna exports from Thailand and other ASEAN countries.

"The government and the private sector should work together to stop the development of a standard for a maximum lead content for tuna and other fishery products. We should continue efforts to change the proposed level to 0.05 ppm," said Lustre.

She stressed that keeping the maximum lead content to 0.05 ppm is important to prevent the rejection of 11 percent of tuna in the international trade.

"Over the long-term, countries such as the Philippines opposing the EU initiative should ensure that maximum levels for contaminants in fish are derived from agreed science-based procedures for their establishment and that these levels are not developed for use as a barrier to trade," added Lustre.

Lustre noted that at this point, there is no internationally validated method of lead testing in fish.

In the next CCFAC meeting on April 6, 2006, the Philippines and other nations such as China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Morrocco and India will be presenting findings by the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (JECFA) that show the current maximum level for lead in tuna and other fishery products do not pose risks to human health.

JECFA already issued its opinion and said that the "levels of lead that are found currently in foods would have negligible effects on the neurobehavioral development of infants and children.

Lustre noted that despite the JECFA findings, the CCFAC failed to consider this fact in Codex deliberations for the current proposed maximum lead content in tuna.

"EU is emotional about this measure because it affects infants and children but there is a process and insisting on imposing a maximum lead content in tuna that is even lower than established standards will prove to be discriminatory to countries that can‚t implement it," said Lustre.