MFDS Signs 'Korea-Peru Fisheries Sanitation Agreement'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 13th that it has signed the "Korea-Peru Seafood Hygiene Agreement" with the Peruvian National Fisheries Health Agency (SANIPES) to strengthen local safety management of Peruvian seafood imported into Korea.

The annual volume of seafood imported from Peru to Korea is about 45,000 tons. Mainly frozen squid, whiteleg shrimp, and conger eel are imported. In particular, as of last year, Peruvian squid accounted for the largest share of 35.8% among the squid imported into Korea.

Under this agreement, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will be notified by the Peruvian government of local seafood manufacturers hygienically managed from the production stage and register them, allowing imports only from registered companies. If non-compliance is found in the customs inspection results of imported seafood, imports will be temporarily suspended, and after receiving the cause investigation results from the Peruvian government and reviewing them, the import suspension will be lifted.

With this agreement, the number of countries with seafood hygiene agreements has increased to 10. The volume imported from agreement countries accounted for 80% of the total seafood imports (about 1.2 million tons) as of last year.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety stated, "We will continue to expand the signing of seafood hygiene agreements that impose preemptive safety management responsibilities and obligations such as hygiene supervision of manufacturing plants on exporting countries' governments, thereby strengthening safety management of imported seafood."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.