New standard released to ensure aquatic product safety
A worker checks the conditions of fish at the warehouse of fresh food delivery site Dingdong Maicai.
An aquatic product quality-control standard was released in the city to establish a safe and sustainable fresh aquatic product supply-chain system.
The standard was jointly released by the Shanghai Ocean University and fresh-food delivery site Dingdong Maicai on Wednesday.
It covers all areas related to the food safety of aquaculture products, such as the environment and fishery facilities, water-quality, feed and farming management, aquatic product delivery, management of fast testing laboratories, and indexes of drug and heavy metal residue of aquatic products.
The standard is the first of its kind jointly released by a university and a company in the industry.
"China's traditional aquaculture industry is experiencing a digital, standard and professional-oriented transformation with the rapid development of fresh food e-commerce sites and consumers' growing demand for safety of aquatic products," said Tan Hongxin, dean of Shanghai Ocean University's College of Fisheries and Life Science.
"The standard provides practical and professional aquatic product quality-control practices to employees in the industry, amid challenges posed by deteriorating water environments to ensure food safety and promote the sustainable development of the aquaculture industry," Tan added.
New types of fish drugs have been introduced to curb the use of malachite green dye, a synthetic dye, as well as new feeds that prove to be safer, said Tan.
Dingdong Maicai, which has partnered with 99 aquaculture bases nationwide and sells about 200 varieties of aquatic products, said it will require all its aquatic-product suppliers to abide by the standard or have their products pulled from the site's shelves.
Its testing laboratories can conduct quick tests on about 10 commonly seen drug and heavy metal items that are banned, such as fluoroquinolones, malachite green and cadmium on aquatic products.
The testing has covered all aquatic products supplied to the site, and substandard products are returned. Cooperation will be permanently suspended if suppliers' products fail a certain number of tests.
