Pan Fish Receives NSF’s First FSMA Voluntary Qualified Importer Program Certification

NSF recently issued its first Food Safety Modernization Act Voluntary Qualified Importer Program (FSMA VQIP) certificate to Pan Fish (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., an enterprise focused on the processing and sale of seafood to customers in Asia, North America and Europe.

During an event held at Pan Fish headquarters in Shanghai, NSF’s General Manager for China, Sol Yu, and NSF’s Food Safety Director for China, Vicki Zhao, presented the certificate to Pan Fish President, Tony Chang, and Pan Fish Vice General Managers, Garner Huang and Andrew Miu.

“During this project, we worked closely with NSF international, learning about their standards development, auditing and quality management processes,” said Chang. “NSF proved to be an excellent resource and we’re looking forward to working with them in the future.”

“We have been working with NSF for many years,” said Miu, “We are very pleased that the NSF team completed the certification so efficiently.”

FSMA VQIP certification provides a range of advantages for organizations, including:

• Expedited entry for food imported into the U.S.
  • FDA laboratories prioritize processing of VQIP samples.
• Limited examination and sampling of foods
  • The FDA exams or samples VQIP food entries only “for cause” like during an investigation of an outbreak or illness, for non-biased surveillance sampling to build a product risk profile or for random sampling to verify that products declared in a VQIP entry are the same as those named in the VQIP application.
• Sampling at preferred location
  • If sampling is needed, the FDA arranges it at the VQIP food destination or at the VQIP importer’s preferred location.
• Help desk
  • The FDA maintains a VQIP Importers Help Desk connecting importers to FDA staff dedicated to responding to questions and concerns.

For more information on NSF’s newly accredited import supplier certification program, please visit www.nsf.org/info/fsma.