Imported seafood now safer than ever

The government will introduce additional screening of imported seafood for low level antibiotic residues, announced the Federal Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister, Peter McGauran.

From September onwards, the government will also be introducing new bio-security measures to prevent exotic diseases prevalent in uncooked, frozen prawns from entering Australia.

The move is considered ultra-conservative, since prawn diseases are not harmful to humans and frozen prawns have not been known to transfer a disease to an area before.

"The additional testing will give consumers even greater confidence that imported seafood meets the high standards required of Australian seafood industries," said McGauran.

President of the Seafood Importers Association of Australia, Harry Peters said that the added screening will make Australia one of the safest seafood markets in the world.

"This is great news for Australian consumers, who can now enjoy all the benefits of the world's healthiest food commodity without concerns about contamination," said Peters.

Peters has urged Australian producers to use the same high import standards for their local produce, to help their competitiveness.

"Unfortunately, Australian-produced seafood for domestic consumption isn't subject to the same testing requirements as imports. In fact, it is not tested at all," he said.

"The assumption that Australian-produced seafood meets all the standards of discerning consumers, simply because it is Australian, just isn't good enough these days."