The statutory body has invoked the provisions under the Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act, 2005 and Rules and Guidelines.
Representational image (Photo: omsaisourcing.com)
Chennai: With concerns increasing over food safety, the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, is introducing stringent norms. It has decided to register all the aquaculture inputs, which are free of antibiotics that may cause any concern.
The statutory body has invoked the provisions under the Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act, 2005 and Rules and Guidelines. The first list of aquaculture inputs registered is likely to be released in CAA’s website on January 15, 2016. Henceforth, aqua farmers and hatchery operators will be permitted to use only the registered inputs in their facilities.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Dr P. Ravichandran, Member Secretary of CAA, said a public notice has already been issued and this is the first time such a regulation is being introduced.
“It’s over Rs 500 crore business industry and so far it was going unchecked. There were cases where consignments were rejected due to presence of prohibited antibiotics residues”.
Now, all the manufacturers (indigenous) and distributors (imported) of aquaculture inputs are requested to submit the application for registration of each of their product clearly indicate the type of product, its chemical/biological nature, application dosage suggested and the generic process of manufacture along with test reports before get it registered.
“This will fix standards for all coastal aquaculture inputs like larval and farm feed, feed additives, chemical disinfectants, other chemicals and drugs, fertilizers, probiotics, immunestimulants etc”, the official said referring to the public notice put out in the website.
The registration will be for a period of three years and periodical monitoring of the samples of the products from market will be done by CAA to keep the products in the active list.
In case the antibiotics or prohibited chemicals are found in the product, the product will be deregistered and removed from the list of approved products, the notice reads and adds that the products that are not registered with CAA and are found in usage in aquaculture will be reported to the Drug Controller General of India for further necessary action from their end. Dr Ravichandran said the CAA can only do things that are under its control, but the onus is on the farmers to be more aware.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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