Jakarta. Indonesia and the United States clinched a regulatory framework agreement related to the quality assurance of fishery products.

According to the Marine Affairs and Fishery Ministry, this cooperation is expected to boost Indonesia’s shrimp access to the American market. Ishartini, the director general of the ministry’s quality assurance agency, said that the regulatory framework agreement covers the capacity improvement of the so-called “whole-genome sequencing” (WGS).

“There is now a shift in food-borne disease surveillance, as lab tests today are using WGS platforms,” Ishartini was quoted as saying in a recent press statement. 

Fellow shrimp exporters India and Ecuador have also adopted this WGS scheme to gain easier access to the American market. Ishartini added: “If we don’t follow this scheme or the agreed cooperation, Indonesian shrimps-food safety will face strict border measures when they enter the US. Of course, that could be detrimental to us.”

According to Ishartini, her agency has arranged technical assistance with the University of Maryland Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA). The partnership is related to food-borne disease surveillance on shrimp aquaculture areas based on the WGS platform. Indonesia is also expecting to see some knowledge and technology transfer from these two bodies.

“With this partnership, Indonesia will become a member of the global WGS food-borne disease testing laboratory network based in the US,” Ishartini said.

Marine and Fishery Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono not long ago launched the area-based shrimp cultivation in Kebumen, Central Java. 

The project spans 100 hectares and becomes the first modern shrimp pond modeling in the country. This project consists of 149 pond plots and has the key infrastructure such as water intakes, reservoirs, maintenance plots, and wastewater treatment plants. The project has a lab for water quality and fish health tests. There is also an office building as well as warehouses for feed and production facilities. It also includes a dormitory for the operator and a post-harvest building.