Although shrimp producers are trying to increase the overall production of shrimp to 250,000 tonnes from the existing 125,000 tonnes a year, lack of adequate testing tools is holding back their efforts.

As the European buyers have threatened to reject any consignment of Bangladeshi shrimp without adequate testing, exporters are seeking installation of a bacteria identification machine on an urgent basis.

A European fact finding team during a recent visit to Bangladesh asked the exporters to equip the testing labs with adequate machinery or conduct testing from Singapore or Thailand to qualify export, sources said.

The exporters at a meeting held at the commerce ministry recently urged the government to install an LCMS/MS machine, locally known as Nitrophuran machine, which can identify presence of all kinds of bacteria in shrimp and other frozen foods.

They also expressed willingness to provide fund on conditions to help the government procure the costly machine for Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) where the Department of Fisheries (DoF) conducts testing of shrimp.

They proposed that the government refund the amount by deducting certification charges on each consignment.

They also urged the government to open marketing and information centres in Tokyo, New York, Brussels, Sydney and Toronto to collect market information and create new markets for Bangladeshi frozen foods.

The meeting was organised to pave the way for establishing a Seal of Quality (SOQ) organisation for ensuring shrimp quality. The government in early 2003 decided to establish an SOQ organisation mainly to control and monitor quality of frozen foods, especially shrimp.

But due to bureaucratic tangle and lack of coordination among the stakeholders, the commerce ministry could only form an SOQ committee and held three meetings in this connection.

Export of frozen foods and shrimp to Europe faced major setback last year due to rejection of some consignments at the entry points by a number of European countries. Reputation of Bay of Bengal shrimp and the country as a whole was hampered seriously due to identification of bacteria-infected shrimp.