29 October 2025
Who does this notice affect?
Stakeholders with an interest in Australia’s import conditions for prawns.
What has changed?
The department has recently received increased enquiries questioning whether there has been a change in Australia’s import conditions for whole (unpeeled) uncooked prawns. This notice confirms that Australia’s import conditions for uncooked prawns for human consumption remain unchanged.
Under standard import conditions, all uncooked prawns exported to Australia:
- must be frozen, have had the head and shell removed and be deveined.
- must also be disease tested pre-export and on-arrival and be found free from white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) and yellow head virus genotype 1 (YHV1).
New Caledonia is the only trading partner that has access for imports of whole (unpeeled) uncooked prawns to Australia.
Further information
Please contact AquaticBiosecurity@aff.gov.au for further information.