Representatives of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) traveled to India for an intensive training session on U.S. import standards related to seafood decomposition.
U.S. FDA India Country Director Sarah McMullen led the training in Kochi, India, along with experts from the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN) and India’s Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT). The training was designed to improve the quality of Indian seafood exports so they meet U.S. import standards.
McMullen said the U.S. FDA aimed to host similar training programs for exporters and regulators across India and other countries to address complexities and challenges unique to the global trade of seafood. The Kochi training session was key to the FDA’s commitment to fostering better ties between the U.S. government and India’s seafood industry.
JIFSAN Aquaculture and Seafood Safety Expert Brett Koonse said the objective of the Kochi program was to “equip regulatory and seafood industry professionals with crucial insights into sensory analysis, which is a pivotal tool for ensuring the quality and safety of seafood.”
“We have regulations in the U.S. to ensure the quality of seafood reaching consumers. The training program is aimed at standardizing the procedure to detect the quality of shrimp by checking the odor because if the consignment does not pass the quality test in the U.S., it will be returned,” Koonse told The New Indian Express.
CIFT Director George Ninan said the session – India’s first-ever seafood decomposition training collaboration with the FDA and JIFSAN – had 24 participants, including government officials and representatives of local seafood processing companies.
Ninan called sensory analysis the most reliable and easiest method to detect decomposition and prevent potential health risks from the consumption of contaminated seafood. The training was also designed to improve Indian business practices to boost exports and reduce the financial and reputational cost of rejected shipments.
Photo courtesy of CIFT
