Seafood
Shrimp paste (terasi)
Terasi is small shrimp salted and fermented until it becomes a dense paste. It is a crustacean product with a long fermentation, which puts it in a strict import category and makes histamine and salt the two numbers a buyer checks.
How it leaves the country.
- Block
- The traditional form, pressed into cakes and wrapped. Dense, dark and strongly aromatic.
- Powder or granule
- Dried and milled for manufacturing use. Easier to dose and easier to ship.
- Paste in jars
- Retail format, sometimes cooked or blended with chilli. A finished product with labelling attached.
- Ingredient grade
- For sauce and seasoning manufacturers, sold on salt, moisture and protein rather than on appearance.
How it is graded.
Bought on the numbers a fermented seafood carries. Colour and smell tell you about the style, and the certificate tells you whether it can be sold.
- Histamine
- The result that stops consignments. Fermented and improperly chilled seafood generates it, and it does not go away with cooking.
- Salt content
- Both the preservation system and a formulation parameter. It varies widely between producers and it carries into your finished product.
- Moisture and water activity
- What keeps the paste stable at ambient temperature. Wetter product is cheaper by weight and less stable.
- Raw material
- Which shrimp species and whether it was chilled between catch and salting. Everything downstream follows from this.
- Colour and aroma
- Deep pink-brown to almost black depending on the region and the fermentation time. It is a style question rather than a quality one.
- Foreign matter
- Sand and shell from beach drying. Assessed by looking at the product rather than reading about it.
How it is packed.
- Blocks wrapped and cartoned
- Dense and heavy. The wrapping has to contain the aroma, which is more of a logistics issue than buyers expect.
- Powder in lined bags
- Hygroscopic, so a barrier liner and sealed cartons.
- Odour
- The smell carries and it transfers to other cargo. Consolidating this with tea, coffee or spices in one container is a mistake you make once.
- Ambient
- Shelf stable when the salt and water activity are right, and it darkens with heat over a long voyage.
Where it grows.
Cirebon and the north Java coast
Java
The best-known terasi area, with production tied to the small shrimp fishery along the coast.
Bangka
Sumatra
A distinct regional style with its own reputation in the domestic market.
Sidoarjo and East Java
Java
Production alongside the pond belt and the wider seafood processing base.
Documentation, where applicable.
- Health certificate
- A fishery product, so most regulated markets require one and the plant has to be approved for that market.1
- Certificate of analysis
- Histamine, salt, water activity and microbiology on the shipped lot.
- HACCP certificate
- A fermented seafood, so temperature control of the raw material is the critical point.2
- Catch certificate
- Where the destination requires evidence of legal catch for the raw material.3
Questions buyers ask.
Why does histamine matter so much?
Because it forms when fish and shellfish are held warm before processing, it survives cooking, and it causes illness. On fermented products it is the single most common reason a consignment is rejected at a European or American border.
Can I ship it with other food?
Technically yes and practically no. The aroma transfers to other cargo in a closed container, and coffee, tea and spices are particularly vulnerable.
Is it a crustacean allergen?
Yes, and it appears in sauces and seasonings where a consumer would not expect it. It has to be declared, and it is a common labelling failure in this category.
What does your service cost?
Five per cent of the order value, paid by you and never by the factory. A factory audit starts at $250 depending on location. We work with orders from $10,000 per shipment.
Tell us what you need.
Give us the specification and the destination port. We come back with producer options and an indicative price. Our fee is 5 % of the order value, paid by you and never by the factory.
Sources
- 1TRACES modules and features. European Commission, DG Health and Food Safety. Checked 3 August 2026.
- 2General principles of food hygiene and the HACCP system. Codex Alimentarius, FAO and WHO. Checked 3 August 2026.
- 3Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. EUR-Lex. Checked 3 August 2026.