To solve the problem of drug residues in eel exported to the Japanese market, the Taiwanese government uses two methods.
Two stages of inspection
To overcome the problem of drug residue traceability in eel farming, the Taiwanese government (i.e., The Fisheries Agency) implemented two stages of drugs inspection: the first before harvest and the second before export. To sell their eels, farmers are required to prove that these have been inspected and are free of drug residues. For this, an eel farmer accompanies a member of the Eel Farmers’ Association to the ponds that are to be harvested, and samples are taken and sent to the inspection center. Once certified, the farmer can contact dealers or exporters to sell the products. Before export, the exporter accompanies a member of the Eel Farmers’ Association to the ponds to be harvested, where further samples are taken and sent for inspection. After these two stages of inspection, the eel exporter needs to obtain permission from the Fisheries Agency to export their products to Japan. The entire process is shown in Figure 1.
However, this procedure has drawbacks for determining responsibility as there still exists a possibility that agencies mix the eels for export, owing to farms producing small amounts. Although the rules of this two-stage inspection procedure demands that each eel from every pond is inspected before export (second stage), agencies may not have all eels from every pond inspected to save on inspection fees. If an eel is found to contain drug residues, it is difficult to confirm the farm where it was produced because of the possibility of agencies or dealers having mixed all the eels together. Another worrying aspect is that Taiwan exports about 20,000 tons of eel to Japan annually; if every batch weighs about 2 tons, this equates roughly to 10,000 batches requiring inspection, and as every batch needs to be inspected twice, 20,000 inspections are needed. Assuming 200 working days per year, 100 batches require inspection every day. At present, sampling is done by the Eel Farmers’ Association, and this places a large burden on that body. Inevitably, mistakes occur.
Next, we move on to the procedure for processing eels. After the first stage of inspection, eel from ponds that have been inspected can be sold to processing plants. After eel are processed, members of the Frozen Food Association are obliged to take samples of the processed eel and send these to inspection centers before export. After these two inspection stages, eel exporters need to obtain permission from the Fisheries Agency to export their eels to Japan. The entire process is shown in Figure 2. In this procedure, however, it is also difficult to determine the party responsible if processed eels are found to contain drug residues. Eel farmers may deny that those eel were sourced from their farms, which is difficult to prove.
Accreditation of good aquaculture farms
To improve the quality of eel, in addition to the two-stage drug inspection process the Fisheries Agency is promoting Good Aquaculture Farms. By gaining accreditation, aquaculture farms can gain certification from the Taiwan Accreditation Foundation to demonstrate the quality of their farms and products. The Taiwan Accreditation Foundation has qualified experts who grant qualification to good aquaculture farms. Experts need to monitor the farm’s water quality, feed, operations, etc., to demonstrate a good aquaculture farm. However, more than 800 farms in Taiwan are small, making it difficult to allocate sufficient number of experts and time to monitor good aquaculture farms.