The Indian government has requested the Japanese authorities to lift the new regulation which restricts the shrimp exports containing 0.01 ppm of ethoxyquin.
According to Indian commerce ministry, the ethoxyquin limit has been fixed without prior notification. In addition, the default standard fixed was not based on any scientific studies, nationally or internationally.
Due to these restrictions, nearly 200 containers of Indian shrimp exports were rejected by Japanese authorities.
The Indian delegation, which has visited Japan, has requested that the standard for ethoxyquin in shrimps be established only after proper safety studies and till then, the level permitted for fish consignments could be permitted for shrimp.
Ethoxyquin is an antioxidant which is used to protect the feed for shrimps from rancidity.
