Vietnam — Fish and Fish Products
Vietnam received 17 RASFF border-rejection notifications in Fish and Fish Products between 2024-Q1 and 2026-Q4. Volume peaked at 7 in 2026-Q3, with the trend newly active in the last year. The most-cited issues are irradiation, leucomalachite green, and unauthorised irradiation. The list below gives each of these 20 rejections by date and RASFF reference, with the country that notified it and the hazard found; 14 carry the laboratory result and 17 say what happened to the consignment.
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Key figures
If you import fish and fish products from Vietnam
- Chance a consignment is opened at the EU border
- Not on the EU's increased-checks list, so only member states' routine, risk-based checks apply (rates not published).
- If it is rejected
- Re-dispatched or destroyed 82%; held, final fate not recorded 18%. A re-dispatched lot can be sold elsewhere, a treated or sorted one can be released once it complies, and a destroyed one is lost.
- Where rejections happen
- Netherlands (7), Slovenia (4), Spain (3), of 17 border rejections in the last 3 years.
- Riskiest months
- September, January, October, by rejections since 2020.
- Test for before shipping
- irradiation (5), unauthorised irradiation (4), leucomalachite green (3), E 250 - sodium nitrite (2), carbonate unauthorised food additive (1).
The EU does not publish how many consignments are shipped, so no page can state a true probability of rejection; these are the figures that are published.
Quarterly rejections, last 12 quarters
Show the numbers
| Quarter | Notifications |
|---|---|
| 2024-Q1 | 1 |
| 2024-Q2 | 1 |
| 2024-Q3 | 2 |
| 2024-Q4 | 0 |
| 2025-Q1 | 0 |
| 2025-Q2 | 0 |
| 2025-Q3 | 0 |
| 2025-Q4 | 0 |
| 2026-Q1 | 0 |
| 2026-Q2 | 0 |
| 2026-Q3 | 7 |
| 2026-Q4 | 6 |
By commodity, last 156 weeks
| Commodity | Rejections | 1 rejection per | Per $1B EU imports | Most-cited hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other | 11 | — | — | irradiation |
| Other Fish/Seafood | 4 | — | — | leucomalachite green |
| Tuna | 2 | — | — | E 250 - sodium nitrite |
"1 rejection per X t": tonnes of the same product imported for every one, over the same 156 weeks. A dash means fewer than 5 in the window, or under 1,000 t a year imported, too few to rate; the total row pools every product that has import tonnes on record.
Recent rejections
- 2026.9835 : Unauthorised substance crystal violet in frozen fillets of fish from Vietnam Notified by Slovenia. Re-dispatched or destroyed. crystal violet
- 2026.9800 Unauthorised additive carbonate/sodium carbonate in frozen pangasius fillets from Vietnam Notified by Germany. Re-dispatched or destroyed. carbonate unauthorised food additive
- 2026.9245 Unauthorized treatment with ionizing radiation of frozen Pangasius fillets from Vietnam Notified by Netherlands. Re-dispatched or destroyed. unauthorised irradiation
- 2026.9242 Unauthorized treatment with ionizing radiation of frozen Pangasius fillets from Vietnam. Notified by Netherlands. Re-dispatched or destroyed. irradiation
- 2026.9047 Unauthorized treatment with ionizing radiation of frozen Pangasius fillets from Vietnam. Notified by Netherlands. Re-dispatched or destroyed. irradiation
- 2026.9046 Unauthorized treatment with ionizing radiation of frozen Pangasius fillets from Vietnam. Notified by Netherlands. Re-dispatched or destroyed. irradiation
- 2026.8513 Unauthorized treatment with ionizing radiation of frozen Pangasius fillets from Vietnam Notified by Italy. Re-dispatched or destroyed. Result >5 (lod) ng/g (limit < 5 (LOD) ng/g wet weight). irradiation
- 2026.8383 Irradiated frozen panga fillets from Vietnam // Filetes de panga congelados de Vietnam Notified by Spain. Re-dispatched or destroyed. Result > 5 (limit 5 ng/g wet weight). unauthorised irradiation
- 2026.8311 Nitrite (14 mg/kg) in frozen tuna from Vietnam Notified by Netherlands. Re-dispatched or destroyed. Result 21 (limit not present mg/kg - ppm). E 250 - sodium nitrite
- 2026.8308 Irradiated frozen panga fillets from Vietnam // Filetes de panga congelados irradiados de Vietnam Notified by Spain. Result > 5 (limit 5 ng/g wet weight). unauthorised irradiation
- 2026.8060 Nitrite (11 mg/kg) in frozen tuna from Vietnam Notified by Netherlands. Re-dispatched or destroyed. Result 17 (limit absent in mg/kg - ppm). E 250 - sodium nitrite
- 2026.7964 Irradiated panga fillets from Vietnam // filetes de panga irradiados de Vietnam Notified by Spain. Result >5 LOD (limit 0 ng/g fat). irradiation
- 2026.6962 Unauthorized treatment with ionizing radiation of frozen Pangasius fillets from Vietnam Notified by Italy. Result >5 (limit 5 ng/g wet weight). unauthorised irradiation
- 2024.5175 Leucomalachite green, malachite green in fish Notified by Slovenia. Re-dispatched or destroyed. Result 34,80 (limit 0,5 µg/kg - ppb). leucomalachite greenmalachite green
- 2024.5174 Leucomalachite green in fish from Vietnam Notified by Slovenia. Re-dispatched or destroyed. Result 1,00 (limit 0,5 µg/kg - ppb). leucomalachite green
- 2024.4629 Leucomalachite green in fish Notified by Slovenia. Re-dispatched or destroyed. Result 0,87 (limit 0,5 µg/kg - ppb). leucomalachite green
- 2024.0639 Carbonates in Pangasius Vietnam Notified by Netherlands. Re-dispatched or destroyed. Result 5357.1 (limit 0 mg/kg - ppm). E 500 - sodium carbonates
- 2023.7600 (Leuco)malachite green in fish. Notified by Netherlands. Re-dispatched or destroyed. Result 0.51 (limit 0.5 µg/kg - ppb). leucomalachite green
- 2023.6075 Execeede RPA value for the sum of malachite green and luecomalachite green in frozen Catfish fillets from Vietnam Notified by Slovenia. Re-dispatched or destroyed. Result 3,2 (limit 0,5 µg/kg - ppb). leucomalachite green
- 2023.2836 Unauthorised leucomalachite green in frozen catfish filets (Claria gariepinus) from Vietnam Notified by Slovenia. Re-dispatched. Result 1.7. unauthorized substance leucomalachite green
Found on the EU market: alerts and information notifications
Besides border rejections, 69 notifications since 2020 concerned fish and fish products from Vietnam found after entering the EU — 35 alerts, 34 information notifications. They are not part of the rejection figures or rates above, which measure border controls.
How they were found: official control on the market 41%, at the EU border 26%, company's own check 19%, consumer complaint or illness 14%. 13 led to a recall from consumers.
Show the numbers
| Year | Total | Alerts | Information notifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 19 | 12 | 7 |
| 2021 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 2022 | 8 | 7 | 1 |
| 2023 | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| 2024 | 15 | 5 | 10 |
| 2025 | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| 2026 to date | 11 | 2 | 9 |
- 2026.9700 alertforeign fragments (plastic?) in frozen shrimp ball from Vietnam Notified by Netherlands. Consumer complaint or illness, reached the market. inedible object
- 2026.9334 info: attentionUnauthorised substance (leucomalachit green) in frozen african catfish fillet from Vietnam Notified by Hungary. Company's own check, destroyed. leucomalachite green
- 2026.8794 info: attentionMOAH in preserved anchovy from Vietnam Notified by Netherlands. Company's own check. mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH)
- 2026.7365 info: follow-upNitrite in tuna from Vietnam Notified by Belgium. At the EU border, reached the market. Result 4,8 (limit absent mg/kg - ppm). nitrite
- 2026.6759 info: attentionVibrio cholerae in Fillet Pangasius from VIETNAM Notified by Romania. At the EU border. Result DETECTED (limit absent /25g). Vibrio cholerae
- 2026.4107 info: follow-upUnauthorised novel food frozen snail meat of the genus Pomacea (or Pila) from Vietnam, via the Czech Republic Notified by Germany. Official control on the market, reached the market, destroyed. import declaration missingnovel food
- 2026.3415 info: follow-upThunnus albacares treated with carbon monoxide from Vietnam via the Netherlands Notified by Belgium. Official control on the market, reached the market. Result 2,7 (limit 0 mg/kg - ppm). carbon monoxide treatment
- 2026.3089 info: follow-upIvermectin in frozen Panagsius fillets from Vietnam, via the Netherlands Notified by Germany. Official control on the market, reached the market. Result 4,0. ivermectin
- 2026.2473 info: attentionNon conformità in etichetta per assenza della dicitura "irradiato" o "trattato con radiazioni ionizzanti"/ Unauthorized treatment with ionizing radiation of frozen Pangasius fillets from Vietnam Notified by Italy. Official control on the market, reached the market. Result Irraggiato (limit < 5 (LOD) ng/g wet weight). irradiation
- 2026.1165 info: follow-upHigh content of E 300-ascorbic acid in frozen tuna sticks from Vietnam via the Netherlands Notified by Greece. Official control on the market, reached the market. Result 1008±121 (limit 300 mg/kg - ppm). E 300 - ascorbic acid
Data and downloads
Download all 97 entries (CSV) — every notification behind this page, border rejections and those found on the market, with how each was found and what was done.
The file holds entries up to 2026-11-05. To get new ones for Vietnam by email, watch Vietnam.
Vietnam country report since 2020 — all notification types, not just border rejections →