- *Beware of Chinese seafood
This is probably not the best time to be importing seafood from China. The FDA's alert on farm-raised seafood isn't quite an outright ban, but it means that shrimp, catfish and eel will not be allowed for sale in the U.S. unless testing shows that it is free of contamination from carcinogens and antibiotics. How exactly that will be done isn't clear (normally less than five percent of imported seafood is inspected). Nor is the liability matter cut and dried (U.S. importers will claim there's no way they can check out every piece of frozen fish coming in). How are we supposed to know whether the fish we're eating is suspect? Mostly, the stuff to look out for is frozen - breaded shrimp, frozen fillets, that kind of thing. One big problem: While the origins of fish you buy at the market is normally labeled, there's little way of knowing where this frozen fish is coming from. China accounts for 21 percent of all seafood imported into the U.S. From the NYT:
The problems with Chinese seafood are evident in a database of products that the FDA stops at the border. In May, for instance, the F.D.A. turned away 165 shipments from China, 49 of which were seafood. Monkfish was rejected for being filthy. Frozen catfish nuggets were turned away because they contained veterinary drugs. Tilapia fillets were contaminated with salmonella. The problems were even worse in April, when 257 shipments from China were rejected, including 68 of seafood. Frozen eel contained pesticides, frozen channel catfish had salmonella and frozen yellowfin steaks were filthy, the records show. In a report on the F.D.A.’s oversight released in May, Food and Water Watch, a Washington-based nonprofit organization, found that more than 60 percent of the seafood that was rejected at the border by the F.D.A. came from China.
Last month a Santa Fe Springs, Calif. seafood importer recalled frozen fish from China - labeled monk fish - because of concerns that it actually might have been blow fish. Big difference - blow fish carries a potentially deadly toxin. The voluntary recall came after reports that two Chicago-area people became ill after eating soup that contained the fish.
*Question of liability: "It's no defense to say, 'We didn't know,'" William Ruskin, a defense litigator with Epstein, Becker & Green in NY tells Business Week. So far, lawyers have gone after a number of U.S. companies, including Del Monte, which sold pet treats made with tainted Chinese ingredients.
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| 04:06 PM Jun 28, 2007 | Email the Daily Dragon | Email this Article | Post Comments |
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