Govt readying new list of frozen food plants

Sonia H Moni | Published: May 31, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2025 06:01:00

The government will send a new list of frozen food exporting companies to the Bangladesh embassy in Russia within a month, officials have said.
"Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance of Russian Federation (Rosselkhoznadzor) has asked the embassy of Bangladesh in Russia for sending a list of the frozen food exporters, " Nittya Ranjan Biswas, Principal Scientific Officer (PSO) of Fish Inspection and Quality Control (FIQC) under the Department of Fisheries (DoF) told the FE.
He said: "Commercial counsellor Noor M M Haq sent a letter to the DoF in this regard at the end of April. Now we are short listing the fish processing plants after evaluation."
"We have renewed licences of 62 fish processing plants of the country out of 68 applicants. A seven-member committee visits the fish processing plants and evaluates different issues like maintaining a standard in the entire process from fish collection to the finishing touch, internal quality control, laboratory, storage, workers' wage, their hygiene, sanitation, effluent treatment plant and others."
Mr Biswas said: "We sent a list of 31 local fish processing plants in two phases in 2010 to Russia. But those are not valid now."
"So we will prepare a short list from the 62 fish processing plants that have renewed their licences. As per the requirement of Rosselkhoznadzor, we have to visit plants and after evaluation we will send a list within one month."
According to the Memorandum of Understanding between Bangladesh and Russia, the DoF has to make recommendation on the Bangladeshi fish processing plants. On the other hand, the exporters have to contact the Russian buyers and if the buyers are convinced after visiting the Bangladeshi fish processing plants and make its recommendations to the Rosselkhoznadzor, then the Russian authority will think of allowing the Bangladeshi exporters to export frozen food to Russia.
Now five Bangladeshi companies -- Bagerhat Sea Food Ltd, Fresh Foods Ltd, Apex Food Ltd, ARK Sea Food Ltd and Gemini Sea Foods Ltd are authorised to export frozen foods to Russia.
Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association (BFFEA) President Md Amin Ullah said: "This initiative will be helpful for the frozen food export of the country. After a long gap Gemini Sea Foods Ltd got approval from Russia on May 5."
"We export around seven per cent of our total frozen food export to Russia worth Tk 3.0 to 3.5 billion annually."
He said before making any recommendation any company to Rosselkhoznadzor, the DoF should be very cautious regarding quality control as Russia has a very strict stance on the issue.
Bangladesh exported frozen foods worth $ 534.98 million during July to April of this fiscal year (FY 2013-14), compared to $ 433.86 million of the corresponding period of last fiscal, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data showed.
The government has set a target to export $ 578.77 million worth of frozen foods this fiscal.