27 July 2018
Who does this notice affect?
This notice is of interest to importers of prawns and prawn meat products and associated industry participants and retailers.
What has changed?
New import conditions for breaded, battered and crumbed (BBC) prawns are now finalised (Biosecurity Advice Notice 2018/15).
All BBC prawns imported into Australia on or after 28 September 2018 must comply with the new import conditions:
- All BBC prawns must be accompanied by a health certificate issued by the Competent Authority confirming that BBC prawns have undergone a par-cooking step after the prawns have been coated to solidify and adhere the coating to the prawn.
- BBC prawns that have not undergone an acceptable par-cooking step must comply with the import conditions for raw prawns, which includes pre-export and on-arrival testing for white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) and yellow head virus genotype 1 (YHV1).
Important: All non-compliant product will be directed for re-export, destruction or treatment (i.e. cooked).
Trade in BBC prawns under the new conditions will not occur until the department has confirmation from Competent Authorities in exporting countries that they can meet Australia’s import conditions for par-cooked BBC prawns. The department is working closely with trading partners to ensure trade can continue under the new conditions as quickly as possible. Further updates will be provided once trading partners confirm that they can meet the new import conditions.
Import Permits and Verification that BBC prawns comply with the new import conditions
The department will contact existing importers shortly to provide advice about changes to their import permits for existing BBC prawn products.
In addition, importers seeking advice on whether BBC prawns products are compliant with the new import conditions can contact the Aquatic Imports Team at any time.
Additional guidance will be made available on the department’s website with examples of time and temperature combinations that may be considered adequate to meet the par-cooking requirements. This information will be made available on the uncooked prawns webpage.
BBC prawns will remain subject to seals intact inspections to verify compliance with import conditions.
Further information
If you require further information, please refer to Biosecurity Advice Notice 2018-15.
Relevant information is also available on our uncooked prawns webpage.
If you require further information please call 1800 900 090 or email Imports.