The Reconstruction Of The Trust System in Asian Aquaculture Is Caused By Nuclear Pollution And Drug Residues
Jul 25, 2025
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The move by China's General Administration of Customs in July to conditionally resume the import of aquatic products from some regions of Japan is reshaping the food trade chain in East Asia. According to the announcement, low-risk categories such as scallops and mackerel must be accompanied by radioactive detection reports, while products around Fukushima remain prohibited. Meanwhile, Vietnam's seafood products have fallen into an export predicament due to the US tariff policy and the EU's drug residue notification, and its reliance on the Chinese market has increased to 29%. These two incidents jointly highlight the complexity of food safety supervision in the era of globalization - technical standards are becoming a more crucial trade barrier than tariffs.
The market response shows a sharp contrast: Japanese exporters are actively preparing health certification documents, while Vietnamese farmers are urgently conducting antibiotic control training. It is worth noting that despite the gradual relaxation of policies, a survey by a third-party institution shows that over 60% of Chinese consumers still have concerns about Japanese aquatic products. This phenomenon of "policies ahead of public opinion" indicates that the restoration of supply chain confidence will be a long-term process.
From a broader perspective, these two incidents have revealed a new paradigm in international trade of agricultural products. When non-traditional risks such as nuclear pollution and antibiotic residues rise, simple tariff negotiations are no longer sufficient to solve the problem. The core of competition in future cross-border food trade may shift to in-depth cooperation areas such as mutual recognition of testing standards and sharing of traceability technologies. Just as the new molecular traceability regulations for Vietnamese shrimp implemented by China's customs indicate, full-chain transparency is becoming a hard threshold for industry access.