(VOVworld)- According to Truong Dinh Hoe, Secretary General of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), the new US Farm Bill will create difficulties for Vietnamese tra fish. Hoe made the statement in an interview with a reporter for the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) in reference to the recently approved US Farm Bill 2014 which regulates Vietnamese tra fish inspections. According to the Farm Bill, the US Department of Agriculture will take over inspections of Vietnamese tra fish from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The US Department of Agriculture regulates activities related to the production, processing and export of Vietnamese tra fish, hampering the Vietnamese tra fish industry which has no comparative standards. Hoe said:

Vietnam should continue to follow the new US Department of Agriculture regulations related to its export of tra fish. Vietnam also needs to look at the its fish production and processing. In fact, we should be confident that there are many Vietnamese enterprises that can attain high standard certifications such as the US’s PAD standard or the Europe’s ASC standard. If treated fairly, Vietnam’s tra fish industry still has time to improve and meet the requirements for sustainable production and export.

Photo: VNA

Since it takes time to promulgate the sub-law documents, the US cannot conduct inspections of scaleless fish until 2015, so Vietnamese firms should begin adjusting to this new US Farm Bill in 2014.