Vietnam has granted licenses to 460 US meat producers and another 210 companies applying to export seafood to Vietnam, according to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh.

Doanh revealed the information during a working meeting with US Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney and Chief Agricultural Negotiator Gregg Doud on February 24.

The deputy minister added that Vietnam has also approved the export of six types of US fresh fruit to Vietnam, namely cherry, pear, grape, apple, blueberry and orange, and is assessing the biological safety risks with four other fruits.

At the meeting with US officials, as part of his working visit to the US, Deputy Minister Doanh asked the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to soon recognise the Hanoi Irradiation Centre and Toan Phat Irradiation Company as eligible for fresh lychee irradiation so that Vietnamese exporters can reduce costs from transporting the fruit to southern irradiation centres.

He also called for US inclusion of vapor heat treatment to sterilise fresh fruits exported to the US, in addition to irradiation, and to finalise risk assessment procedures so that Vietnamese pomelo can be exported to the US.

The US Department of Agriculture is expected to send a delegation to Vietnam from March 2-13 to conduct a periodical review of Vietnam’s catfish products.

Vietnam pledges cooperation during the review and ensures that Vietnamese catfish exported to the US are high quality, safe and reasonably priced.