The government has denied a local news report claiming that all Thai fish sauce exports to the US have been banned, saying a shipment from a single firm had been held up because of insufficient and unclear documentation.
The denial came at a media briefing organised by the Commerce Ministry and Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday to allay fears among local food exporters and fishery suppliers. A media report at the weekend claimed Hong Kong had leap-frogged Thailand in the US fish sauce market after the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) banned all Thai fish sauce exports.
The report said that as a result Thai restaurants in the US were having to use salt as a replacement for fish sauce.
Witt Maneenetr, deputy head of the Comerce Ministry's Department of International Trade Promotion said the report was wrong and had been blown out of proportion. He admitted that one fish sauce brand from Thailand had been put on import alert list as reported, but not all of them. He said being listed was a normal thing if anomalies arise.
"It is normal procedure for USFDA to hold a shipment to check product quality and for us to clarify matters," said Mr Witt. "The US is our number one export market so we are concerned about upholding standards. In this case, we did not see it as a serious one," he said.
It is not the first time the USFDA has held up a fish sauce shipment. Four shipments have been held up over the last decade, Mr Witt said. He refused to reveal the firm behind the latest shipment issue, but said it had already cleared the matter up with the USFDA.
The USFDA recently put a fish sauce company on its Import Alert list after finding the company's manufacturing process might be flouting its rules.
