http://www.tehrantimes.com/Index_view.asp?code=189914
February 23, 2009 EU firm on ASEAN food standards: official KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia (AFP) -- The European Union (EU) has no plans to suppress exports of food from Southeast Asia but producing countries must comply with stringent safety requirements, an official said here. The EU will provide technical assistance to any regional nation to help improve hygiene failings that could hamper exports, said Jerome Lepeintre, who is leading a delegation of health and consumer protection officials. "The EU is not trying to stifle food exports from any ASEAN country," he told AFP after leading a food standards forum with officials from the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Saturday. "Our main concerns are that all foods exported to the EU must be safe for human consumption," he said. "ASEAN is a major food exporter to the EU. The export bill is 40 billion dollars a year and growing fast." Leipeintre said seafood exports to the EU from Malaysia are expected to resume soon, after a suspension last year which Malaysia put in place to avoid an outright ban for failing to meet EU health standards. "The EU realizes that meeting these high standards can be difficult and costly for developing countries, so it provides technical assistance to help them meets its own standards. "This assistance can indirectly benefit the counties concerned by improving their own food standards and health, thus reducing the number of deaths from contaminated food and water." Lepeintre said region nations including Malaysia and Thailand were already active in implementing food safety standards, while the region's less developed neighbors Cambodia, Lao and Vietnam were lagging behind
