Kirum Prahok Powder: Targeting Europe

With technical support from the CAPFISH-Capture project developed by Onudi/Unido, which benefits Confirel for the development of its Kirum prahok powder, particularly for the European market, the Cambodian Fisheries Administration (FiA) has implemented a food safety and official control system for the fisheries sector, aligned with strict European Union (EU) standards. This system aims to place Cambodia on the list of countries eligible to export fish and fish products to the EU.

To achieve this objective, Cambodia submitted an official request to the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG-SANTE). This process includes an audit request to assess the compliance of official control systems, including the residue monitoring program for aquaculture.

To prepare for this final audit, an international third-party auditor was commissioned to conduct a mock audit. This took place on March 19th in Confirel. This exercise resulted in several recommendations being issued prior to the official audit to ensure full compliance with European requirements.

These recommendations include, among others, the implementation of a continuous monitoring system to ensure ongoing compliance, the selection of a single supplier for raw prahok to improve traceability, the inclusion of additional information on labels, and certain additional microbiological analyses.

Compliance with these recommendations demonstrates Confirel's commitment to meeting the stringent requirements of the European market, particularly with regard to food safety. Overall, inclusion on the official list of eligible countries would open up significant economic opportunities for the Kingdom's fisheries sector.