Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States to check the quality and safety of fishery in Indonesia.

Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (NOA) received the visit of three officers "Food and Drug Administration" (FDA) of the United States to check the quality and safety of fishery in Indonesia.

"To show the seriousness of the government against the system of quality assurance and safety of fishery, the CTF receives the visit of three officers from the FDA to 15 UPI (Fish Processing Unit) in Indonesia," said Head of Data, Statistics, and Information CTF, Soen'an H . Poernomo, in a written statement received by AFP on Monday.

According Soen'an, visiting officials from the regulatory body of quality safety of food products and medicines intended for the U.S. government's export of Indonesian fishery products to the United States can be accepted in accordance with the country's product safety standards.

Although derived from a similar institution, he added, the three FDA officials were not incorporated and working in a team but individually to each predetermined UPI scattered in various regions in the country.

He said, the visit has been started since 3 October and is expected to last until October 27, 2010.

They, he said, visiting 15 UPI contained in seven provinces, namely Jakarta, Lampung, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Bali and South Sulawesi.

Meanwhile, the National Fish Quarantine, Quality Control and Safety of Fishery Products CTF will also provide guidance to follow the inspection process.

In addition, the agency also will record all findings and if there are any discrepancies then corrective action can be performed quickly and accurately.

He said, the guidance system of quality of fishery products in Indonesia has begun since the late 1960s.

Any improvement to the quality supervising has been made of certified professionals, including a curriculum for training at the Academy of Fishery.

"Products that are exported are also assessed by organoleptic and laboratories, both chemical and microbiological," he said.

He also points out, the next quality coaching will follow international dynamics, namely the quality of analysis at the critical point processing product, which is known as Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP), which was initiated by the United States.

At this time, he added, has also expanded the analysis method "traceability" (search) product quality since the beginning of production, which is a method that was first developed in Europe. 

Based on data from the CTF, the export of fishery products to the U.S. in 2009 reached as much as 155.8 thousand tons with total value amounting to 944.4 thousand U.S. dollars.

Source: Sinar Baru Indonesia