Farmed salmon. (Photo: Multiexport Foods)
CHILE
Friday, April 17, 2015, 03:00 (GMT + 9)
It is expected that the Court of Appeals of Santiago these days release its position regarding a claim about the amount of antibiotics per produced salmon tonne used by Chilean companies.
This complaint was filed by the marine conservation organization Oceana because after urging the Chilean government to adopt "drastic goals" to reduce the use of antibiotics in the salmon industry in the country, the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Service (SERNAPESCA) denied giving information in this regard claiming that it would affect third parties.
The NGO’s presentation arose from a report by SERNAPESCA revealing that in 2013 salmon farming companies used about 450,700 kilograms of antibiotics, the highest figure worldwide.
Regarding this issue, Multiexport and Camanchaca executives indicated that recent mergers and acquisitions in the salmon industry show the sector’s consolidation, and it is anticipated that such unions will generate productive-sanitary benefits and synergies.
In 2014 memorandum, Multiexport emphasized that the products sold by the company "have no detectable antibiotic residues, approving the most demanding measurement systems used by Japan, the US and the European Union".
Meanwhile, Camanchaca board chairperson, Jorge Fernandez, stated that last year there was a "greater presence of bacterial salmon rickettsial disease syndrome (SRS), which forced producers to increase antibiotic treatments to cope with it," Pulso reported.
To the entrepreneur, that made it possible to obtain lower mortality rates and higher average weight rates in 2013.
"The health status of diseases such as SRS remained controlled due to both the rigorous health surveillance implemented in the farms and the timely implementation of effective treatments as well as the use of reinforced diets to improve the fish immunological conditions," explained Camanchaca in its memorandum.
On the other hand, Multiexport managers clarified that the industry is working on developing vaccines against major pathogens that affect salmon.
"Our company has quality assurance systems at all the farming stages, which ensures compliance with the highest market standards," they added.
Meanwhile, the firms AquaChile, Invermar, Australis and Blumar avoided referring to the use of antibiotics in the national salmon industry in its last year’s memorandum.