*1 This analysis does not follow the ASFIS species because portals used the generic name of species, instead of the scientific name.

Periods

The annual period used is the calendar year (1 January - 31 December).

This dataset includes monthly reports, easily accessible in the columns: 2024-01, 2024-02, 2024-03, etc.

Methodology

The methodology for data collection is different and varies depending on the structure of the e-notification portal. For this reason, it has been decided to aggregate the causes of import notifications as follows:

Animal disease
Chemical
Histamine
Microbiological
Parasites
Toxins
Other causes

Australia

For Australia, the portal used is the Imported Food Inspection Scheme of the Australian Governments. The data are inserted on their website in CSV file monthly, covering all products. Data on fisheries and aquaculture products is filtered manually by FAO. The reports provide a variety of information such as:

Date of fail
Product description
Country of origin
Producer name
Reason for fail
Result/s
Units
Reference

The FAO dataset contains the classification of the notification, the date of the case, the importing and exporting country, the subject, and the product category.

European Union and United Kingdom

For these countries, the portal used is the RASFF Portal, a tool to ensure the flow of information to enabling swift reaction when risks to public health are detected in the food chain. The RASFF Portal is a database containing information on food and feed that may have been subject to alerts, border rejections, information for attention and information for follow-up. The FISHSTATJ dataset only contains alerts and border rejections. Every year, the NFIMF team collects data from the previous year. For the RASFF portal, as all food and feed products are present, we only select the following aquatic food commodities: bivalve molluscs, cephalopods, crustaceans and fish and fish products. The RASFF portal provides a variety of information such as:

The classification of the notifications.
The date of the case.
The importing country.
The subject.
The product category.
The exporting country.
The risk decision.
The action taken.
The distribution status.
The analytical result.
The sampling dates.

The FAO dataset contains the classification of the notification, the date of the case, the importing and exporting country, the subject, and the product category.

Japan

For Japan, the methodology used to compile the data from the website of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is different. The data are inserted on their website in an excel file monthly, covering all products. Data on fisheries and aquaculture products are filtered manually by FAO. The excel files provide a variety of information such as:

The item.
The exporting country.
The name of manufacturers.
The shipper.
The article.
The contents of violation.
The quarantine station.
The name of importers.
The disposal of the cargo.
The remark.
The publication day.

The FAO dataset contains the classification of the notification, the date of the case, the importing and exporting country, the subject, and the product category.

People’s Republic of China

For China, the methodology used is to receive translated data obtained from the website of the China’s Customs website. Data on fisheries and aquaculture products is categorized manually by FAO. The FAO dataset contains the classification of the notification, the date of the case, the importing and exporting country, the subject, and the product category.

United States of America

For the United States of America, the portal used is the Import Refusal Report (IRR) of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). By selecting "product" and inserting the month and the year, the system gives a list of all the products subjected to rejections. It is possible to get all rejections by selecting "Fishery/Seafood Prod",. If you click on the dropdown to select a record, you can obtain the selected rejection, which contains more detailed information such as:

Manufacturer FEI.
Manufacturer Name.
Manufacturer Address line.
Address line 2.
Manufacturer Province/State.
Manufacturer Country/Area. Product Code.
FDA Product Description.
Refusal Date.
FDA District.
ENTRY/DOC/LINE/SFX.
FDA Sample Analysis.
FDA Record of Private Lab Sample Analysis.
Violation Code.
Section.
Charge Statement.

The FAO dataset contains: the classification of the notification, the date of the case, the importing and exporting country, the subject, and the product category.

Notes on countries or areas:

The term country or area used covers territories, cities, land areas, as well as provinces, districts, enclaves, exclaves and other parts of territories or combinations of countries or areas such as economic or customs unions. Country or area names and designations are subject to nationally announced changes. Name changes announced after 31 December 2024 have not necessarily been incorporated in this dataset but will be reflected in future releases.

Citation:

When quoting FishstatJ data, please use the following reference: The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0) specifies that you must give appropriate attribution and credit to FAO for any work produced using a dataset or when data is re-disseminated. The citation must follow the following format:
"FAO.[NFI-Import notifications for fisheries and aquaculture products]. License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). Extracted from: FishStatJ [http://www.fao.org/fishery/statistics/software/fishstatj/en]. Data of Access: [dataset release 2025.1.0, was accessed at DD-MM-YEAR]."

Disclaimer Clauses:

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