Thailand Prawn Farming
Thailand’s tropical climate and abundance of suitable coastal locations have made prawn farming one of its biggest rural industries. However, this growth did not occur by accident – nor was it unplanned. To sell prawns to international markets, Thailand realised that its industry would have meet the most demanding standards in the world - standards in food safety and quality, environmental sustainability, social responsibiity, animal heath and welfare, and product trace-ability.
In the past decade alone, over 20,000 Thai prawn farms and hatcheries have been accredited to the standard of Good Aquaculture Practice and/or Code of Conduct. These standards, devised in conjunction with world authorities, cover issues such as Location, Property Rights and Registration; Farm/Hatchery Management; Drugs and Chemicals Use; Effluent and Sludge Management; Electricity and Fuel Use; Environmental Management; Management of Farm/Hatchery Sanitary; Shrimp Harvesting; Employee and Worker Welfare; Social Responsibility; Data Collection; and Product Trace-ability.
Today, over 500 trainers, auditors and inspectors supervise the on-going quality assurance system for farms, hatcheries and distributors. Another 100 inspectors are involved in the control of processing plant inspection and certification. The Thai Department of Fisheries has Raw Material Inspection and Quality Control Units located at 22 Coastal Aquaculture Research and Development Centers from where it conducts microbiological, physical and chemical testing for water quality, aquatic animal disease control and antibiotic control.
Antibiotics
The elimination of antibiotic contamination has been a top priority for the Thai industry, and the Department of Fisheries monitors the use of antibiotics in feed, farm environments and prawn products. Although legal veterinary antibiotics are used in land and aquatic animal farming throughout the world to ensure animal health and welfare, particularly in the early stages of growth, antibiotic residues are prohibited from the human food chain in most countries (to mitigate the development of disease resistance). Water quality and good farming and animal husbandry practices reduce the need for antibiotics and other medications such as fungicides, and regular testing ensures that no residues are present before products are exported. As a double check, all imported prawns are tested by the Australian Quarantine & Inspection Service (AQIS) using Australian laboratories, before they are released for sale here.
Trace-ability
Trace-ability is the system whereby products in the market can be traced back through the distribution, processing and production chain to verify the standards that were applied, or in the event of a food safety concern. Each carton of Thai prawns can be traced back to the factory where they were processed and to the farm pond where they were grown – with information about dates and QA controls. Increasingly (as the system moves from manual paperwork to a computerised network called Thai Trace-shrimp) even the prawn brood stock (parents) can be identified, along with feed ingredients and the source of feed raw materials.
Today, with its modern processing factories and advancements in aquaculture and food technology, Thailand has become the regional leader in the production and export of farmed prawns, and the official UN FAO