Workers in an aquatic product enterprise processes the shrimps to be exported. [Photo from yinsha.com]

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifted the ban on an aquatic product processing enterprise based in Zhanjiang, the first such move the US authority has made with regard to Chinese enterprises.

According to the Zhanjiang Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, the FDA lifted the "Detention Without Physical Examination" order imposed on the Zhanjiang-based Guolian Aquatic Product Company, the largest aquatic product exporter to the US in the coastal city.

The US food safety authority nullified the company's "green card" to go through the Customs last August citing the shrimp products of the company failed the drug test, and demanded all batches of Guolian’s aquatic products tested before clearance since then.

The Zhanjiang Inspection and Quarantine Bureau investigated the case soon after learning about the news. It helped the company to communicate with relevant authorities in the US through the provincial and the state inspection and quarantine bureaus.

The FDA has conducted random inspection on the imported 2,600 tons of shrimp product from the Zhanjiang-based company since then. It also sent a delegation to South China's Fujian and Guangdong provinces to evaluate local aquatic product quality safety management systems last October.

The US is the second largest market for China's exported aquatic products, and the largest one for exported aquatic products from Zhanjiang.