Fish and fishery products are among the world’s most traded commodities. Each country has its own food inspection system at borders to ensure consumer protection.

One of the greatest difficulties for exporters is the variety of inspection frameworks and requirements in their different markets. They face different import regulations and control procedures based on which seafood products can be rejected or detained, which has an economic impact. In order to promote harmonization and equivalent standards among seafood trading countries, the differences among fish inspection systems need to be analysed and studied.

 This Workshop aims to provide an overview of the criteria for defining risk based border inspection systems in major fish importing countries to have a better understanding of the different conditions based on which fishery and aquaculture products are rejected or detained. 

The participants of the Workshop are all experts on food safety and risk based fish inspection at borders; they are coming from different countries: Canada, China, European Union Member Countries, Japan and New Zealand.

The meeting will guide the elaboration of a workshop report on risk based fish inspection at borders and provide recommendations for harmonization of fish inspection systems at borders, as well as to move towards transparency.

For more information, please contact:[email protected] or [email protected]

Date: 30 October to 1 November

Venue: FI Meeting Room, FAO-HQ

Organizers: Esther Garrido Gamarro (Food Safety and Quality Officer) and Giulia Loi (Food Safety Advisor).