By Business Reporter — MUSCAT: MAY 6 - Oman Fisheries Company (OFC) has insisted that spoiled fish stocks discovered by government inspectors were in fact already quarantined and earmarked for disposal at the time of the inspection. The company, which is partly owned by the Omani government, said in a filing to the Capital Market Authority (CMA) that it has documentation to prove that the 25 metric tonnes of spoiled fish uncovered by a joint government team of inspectors had already been approved for dumping.
In this regard, it had been coordinating with Muscat Municipality the proper disposal of the stocks just prior to the inspection.
A joint team of inspectors representing the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Muscat Municipality and the Public Authority for Consumer Protection (PACP) had stumbled upon the expired consignment during a regular inspection of one of OFC’s plants.
“The stock under question here was already approved for dumping and company was in coordination with Municipality in this regard. The necessary documentation for approval of dumping the same is also part of company’s records, and which was also communicated to the inspection team,” Oman Fisheries said.
“The material identified, i.e. 25 MT, was already approved for dumping during the financial year ended March 31, 2017 and kept separately marked as expired / spoiled, to further ensure that such material was not meant to be distributed in the local or export market for sale. We also wish to inform that the material under question has already been dumped,” the company stated.
According to OFC, systems are in place to periodically assess the condition of the estimated 40,000 MT of fish that are handled by the company every year, with any spoiled or expired stocks set aside for disposal.
The disposal of the 25 MT of expired fish stocks had already been accounted for the financial records of the company for year ended March 31, 2017, leaving no potential for any future impact, it said.
“We would also like to highlight that OFC earned around $55 million in foreign exchange for the economy of the Sultanate by exporting fish to various parts of the world. OFC as the largest fisheries company in the Sultanate is committed to high quality standards and believes in setting high benchmarks in the industry. We are committed to ensuring not only food security but also provide high quality fish for local as well as export markets,” it added in its filing.
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