Canned fish producers in Muncar district, East Java, have been hit hard by the recent discovery of parasitic worms in canned mackerel. The companies have urged the government to impose stricter quality control.
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ANTARA FOTO/Destyan Sujarwoko
An official checks the production code of a canned fish product at a department store in Tulungagung, East Java, on Monday (2/4). The inspection was aimed to ensure the recall of 27 canned mackerel products suspected of containing a harmful worm parasite.
BANYUWANGI, KOMPAS – Canned fish producers in Muncar district, Banyuwangi regency, East Java, have been hit hard by the recent discovery of parasitic worms in canned mackerel. The companies have urged the government to impose stricter quality control on imported fish.
In addition to incurring financial losses from having to recall their products from the market, canned fish producers – whose products were announced to contain parasitic worms – have been forced to store their imported fish indefinitely.
The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) recently announced that 27 canned fish brands, comprising 16 imported brands and 11 local ones, contained dead parasitic worms. The domestic products that were found to contain parasitic worms used raw ingredients from China, the same country of origin as the 16 imported brands. (Kompas, 31/3/2018).
Of these 11 local brands, several are produced by companies based in Muncar, a canned fish and fish powder industry center in Banyuwangi, East Java. There are at least 12 canned fish and fish powder producers in the region.
“The company was certainly hit hard. We have seven containers of imported mackerel in our cold storage. We will not process them until we find new ways of processing them, or there is a new regulation from the government,” PT Maya Muncar operational manager Hary Purnomo said on Monday (2/4) during an interview at his office in Muncar.
Hary said that 150 tons of fish were stored in the seven containers. Assuming Rp 10,000 (US$0.73) per kilogram as the price of fish, the fish in the seven containers are worth Rp 1.5 billion.
“This does not include losses from the recall, which is also costly. Our marketing division in Jakarta knows the precise value,” said Hary.
Demand stops
Separately, production manager Rony Fajar Laksana of CV Pasific Harvest said that the company was also hit hard. The recall of canned fish products had led to a halt in market demand for the products. The next concern is that this would affect production activities.
Rony has therefore called on the government to act firmly in controlling the quality of imported mackerel. This is important, as most mackerel are imported.
CV Pasific Harvest obtains its raw mackerel from several countries, with the largest volume imported from China. The company has relied on imports since the 2010 crisis in raw ingredients.
Hary said that all the fish imported from foreign countries to Muncar had undergone a food quality and safety test at the Surabaya Quarantine Center. If no problems were found, the quarantine center would issue a certificate for the fish.
When the fish arrive in Muncar, they undergo another check by the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry’s directorate general of resource monitoring. Next, Hary said, PT Maya Muncar, which has a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point certificate, applied a standard for fish processing.
Rony said the government should have imposed stricter controls on imported raw ingredients through upgraded test standards or other measures. “That way, we producers would feel safe. Thus far, control has been strict, but there is a need to revise the methods,” he said.
Product monitoring
The Bali Fish Quarantine, Quality Control and Fishery Products Safety Agency (BKIPM) monitors and conducts tests for parasites on a number of canned fish products sold in the province. The test found no pieces of dead worms in the test sample.
“Nevertheless, we will monitor the products and test their samples in our lab,” Bali BKIPM administration head Kusmayadi said on Monday at his office in Kuta, Badung.
Separately, Denpasar BPOM chief I Gusti Ayu Adhi Aryapatni said the agency had conducted tests on 14 samples of canned fish products sold in traditional markets, shops and modern supermarkets. No worms were found.
“We have delivered our test results to the [central] BPOM,” Ayu said, adding that the Denpasar BPOM would continue monitoring and testing canned fish products in the local market.
Previously, the BPOM had ordered the producers and importers of canned fish found to contain parasitic worms to recall their canned fish products from the market and destroy them. “BPOM gave one month [to recall the products] from late March. Thorough evaluation will only be possible sometime in late April,” BPOM spokeswoman Nelly L Rachman said on Monday in Jakarta.
Also on Monday, an inter-agency meeting was held, presided over by the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister. Representatives of the Trade Ministry, the Industry Ministry and the BPOM attended the meeting. Afterwards, an internal BPOM meeting was held until 10 p.m.
