QuestionsQuestions (BFAR FISHERIES ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 210-01)
It is issued pursuant to Sections 61(d) and 100 of Republic Act No. 8550 (Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998).
Chilled fish refers to fresh fish subjected to zero degrees Celsius (0°C).
Any premises where fish products are prepared and processed as chilled, frozen, dried, smoked, canned, packaged or stored.
It includes crustaceans, mollusks and other aquatic products; seawater and freshwater animals or their parts, in whatever form, including seaweeds, squalene and blubbers intended for human consumption.
They must be processed in BFAR-certified fish processing establishments compliant with SSOP and HACCP; must undergo product tests required by the importing country (performed at BFAR or accredited labs with results presented to BFAR) for the issuance of a product sanitary/health certificate; and must meet specified microbiological, chemical, and marine biotoxin standards, plus physical, packaging, and storage requirements.
HACCP is a preventive quality management system identifying, evaluating, and controlling hazards significant to food safety; the HACCP Plan is the written document delineating procedures following the seven HACCP principles.
SSOP (Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures) are written procedures to ensure processing/production is done under sanitary and hygienic conditions.
Aerobic Plate Count (APC) 500,000/g; Escherichia coli 11/g; Salmonella absent in 25 g; Shigella absent; Vibrio cholera absent; Staphylococcus aureus 1,000/g.
Lead (Pb) 0.5 ppm; Mercury (Hg) 0.5 ppm; Cadmium (Cd) 0.5 ppm.
Ciguatoxin negative; Paralytic shellfish toxin 40 micrograms/100g; Histamine 200 ppm or 20 mg/100g.
Fresh/chilled must be maintained at 0°C; frozen fishery products must be stored at minus 20°C or below.
No. It is unlawful to export fishery products of whatever size, stage, or form for any purpose without first securing an appropriate permit from BFAR.
Applications must be filed on a per shipment basis at least one (1) week before the exportation date, accompanied by an export declaration, packing list, and a nonrefundable/ nontransferable check or cash payment of Php 50.00.
It must be issued on a per shipment basis at least one (1) week before exportation after payment of a Php 50.00 certification fee; it expires 30 days after issuance.
Fish products must be inspected prior to shipment to verify completeness of documents. For most cases, the packaging/container and accompanying documents must indicate in bold: “Product of the Philippines”/“in the Philippines”; name of product; name and address of manufacturer; and BFAR inspection dates and stamp mark (unless packed in bulk intended for further processing).
The offender may be liable for imprisonment of eight (8) years, a fine of Php 80,000, and forfeiture of the fishery product for proper disposition by BFAR, and the violator is also banned from being a member or stockholder of companies engaged in fisheries now or in the future.