Seafood Processing Industry and International Quality Standards: Evidence from Kerala

The International market for seafood has undergone drastic changes. The emerging global thrust to adoption of hygienic production practices for adhering to the World Trade Organization standards; compliance to Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) by seafood exporters is a prerequisite. The food service sector has undergone major changes in terms of the types of products in demand. The main constraints in adoption of quality assurance systems are lack of awareness, high cost for adoption of quality assurance systems, and lack of time frame for implementation of quality assurance systems.. This study tried to capture demand side constraints include those related to international trade such as non-tariff barriers of quality standards and its impact on export market.