Date of issue: 23 July 2020 (re-issued 27 July 2020)
Date of effect: 27 July 2020
Reference Number: MAA2020-11
Attention:
- Industries—Industry bodies - Seafood Export Consultative Committee
- Export establishments
- Licensed exporters
- Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment —Central and Regional offices
Purpose
To provide information on the export of frozen, in-shell, farmed abalone to Canada for food service and retail uses. This information may be used to update the approved arrangement of participating export establishments. This has been re-issued to include instructions on the additional information required when raising an RFP in EXDOC.
Summary of key points
- On 8 July 2020, the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment has successfully negotiated with Canadian Food Inspection Agency a health certificate for the export of frozen, in-shell, farmed abalone for food service and retail uses.
- The certificate will be available on the department’s export documentation system on 27 July 2020.
- The requirements for the export of frozen abalone to Canada are outlined below.
Eligible product
- The abalone must satisfy all of following criteria:
- Species of abalone as green lip abalone (Haliotis laevigata), black lip abalone (H. rubra rubra) or tiger abalone (H. laevigata x H. rubra);
- Aquaculture origin;
- Originate from a land-based farm participating in the Abalone Health Accreditation Program (AHAP);
- Non-viable;
- Frozen;
- Whole product (in shell); and
- Intended for food service and retail use.
Harvest and processing
- The abalone farm must participate in the AHAP and provide evidence of current participation to the processing establishment. The processing establishment needs to obtain evidence in the form of a participation certificate which is issued by the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) of the state/territory of the farm is located and maintain that evidence in their approved supplier program. The certificate must provide evidence of currency (e.g. must have start and end dates for the participation period).
- Any other susceptible aquatic animal which contact the abalone to be exported during pre-embarkation must be free of the disease of concern relevant to abalone, which at the time of writing this advice include Haliotid herpesvirus-1 and Perkinsus olseni.
- Potable water must be used for washing, rinsing or glazing abalone during processing.
- Until approved by Canada, seawater may not be used for processing the abalone, regardless of whether it has been filtered and ultraviolet radiation treated.
- The farmed abalone prepared for export to Canada must be traceable back to the farm.
- The farmed abalone must be packaged for retail sale.
- Abalone from different farms must not be mixed in the same package.
Labelling
- A visible, legible label must be present on the containers used to transport the aquatic animals.
- The label must contain the following information:
- The origin and destination of the consignment;
- The name of the farm;
- The taxonomic name listed in the Australian Fish Name Standard of the abalone exported;
- A statement that the abalone are farmed; and
- The net weight of the abalone in the shipment.
- If there are multiple individual retail packs within an outer carton, then the above information related to origin and destination of consignment and farm name can be placed on the outer carton and does not have to be on each individual retail package.
Request for health certificate
- When requesting a health certificate on EXDOC, the following input are required:
- Common name of the species;
- Processing date;
- Canadian import permit number;
- Farm name where the abalone were sourced (entered into the ‘additional product description’ field); and
- Identify the product as aquaculture origin (not wild caught).
The health certificate is negotiated based on Canada’s requirements against diseases of concern, which at the time of this Market Access Advice include Haliotid herpesvirus 1 and Perkinsus olseni. The diseases of concern are subject to change. Should this occur, a new health certificate will need to be negotiated.
The Manual of Importing Country Requirements (MICoR) will be updated to reflect this market access advice.
The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment encourages all exporters to work with their importer to ensure that product meets the current importing country requirements.
Further information
Contact dairyeggsfish@awe.gov.au if you have any queries.
The information provided in this advice is current at the time of writing and is intended for use as guidance only and should not be taken as definitive or exhaustive. The Commonwealth endeavours to keep information current and accurate, however, it may be subject to change without notice. Exporters are encouraged to verify these details with their importers prior to undertaking production/exports. The Commonwealth will not accept liability for any loss resulting from reliance on information contained in this notice.