The industry - from shrimp breeding to final processing - has been closely watched to ensure quality. Photo tinmoi.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) – Japan has lifted a regulation that imported Vietnamese shrimps must be tested for trifluralin, a type of antibiotic, according to Viet Nam Association of Seafood Producers and Exporters.

The regulation has been applied to all kinds of shrimps imported from Viet Nam since October 2010. Japan is Viet Nam's leading importer of the sea food.

The ban led to a close watch on the industry - from shrimp breeding to final processing - by the Viet Nam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

However, experts believe Viet Nam is headed in the right direction in controlling seafood quality.

To push up the export turnover of seafood to the Japanese market, Deputy Director of the Department of Fisheries, Nguyen Huy Dien, said localities needed to further focus on preventing shrimp diseases.

In addition, Dien said it was also necessary to pass on shrimp raising methods that ensured low Ethoxyquin content, an anti-oxidant substance popularly used in preserving aquatic feed.

In the first four months of this year, Japan imported Viet Nam shrimp worth more than US$168 million, an increase of 2.4 per cent compared with the same period last year. -- VNS