Dear Frank,
The use of packaging as far as the EU is concerned is fairly open ended. All
the orginal directive says is that all packaging materials must comply with
the rules of hygiene and in particular:-
- they must not impair the organoleptic characteristics of the product.
-they must not be capable of transmitting to the fishery products substances
harmful to human health
-they must be strong enough to protect the fishery products
- unless they can be adequately cleaned and disinfected, must only be used
once.
It does also say that for fresh product there should be drain holes to get
rid of any melt water. However, if the product is being flown in, the
airlines do not allow this, which means merchants tend to puncture the boxes
themselves to release the melt water once it has been cleared at the port of
entry. I would not have thought this would be a problem with shrimp, as I
would guess you would use dry ice or gel packs to keep the product at the
right temperature.
As long as your packaging complies with the above there would not be a
problem.
The vast majority of fishery products in the EU are packed in either
polystyrene boxes or waxed cardboard. In fact there is quite a bit of fresh
shrimp coming into the UK now in small polystyrene boxes.
I hope this answers your question.
Regards
Chris Leftwich
Chief Inspector, Billingsgate Fish Market, London
-----Original Message-----
From: Francisco Camino <frankcamino@yahoo.com>
To: seafood@ucdavis.edu <seafood@ucdavis.edu>
Date: 23 February 2002 18:09
Subject: polyurethane containers
>Dear List:
>
>I would like to know if the polyurethane containers
>have any restrictions by FDA and EU to use in seafood
>transport (specially fresh shrimp).
>
>I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
>
>Best regards,
>Francisco Camino
>Aquamaris
>
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