Asian fish found to contain banned chemicals.

With the AP reporting more incidents of melanine in animal feed, this time in chicken feed, it was easy for this to slip through the cracks:

Nearly a half million pounds of imported fish is sitting idle in Alabama warehouses because testing shows it contains chemicals banned in the United States. Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Ron Sparks said testing done by his department discovered the tainted fish, and he issued a “stop-sale order” on the fish Wednesday.
(read the whole thing)

This is the first incident of tainted fish from Asian being shipped to the US. And with all of the concern over wheat gluten and melanine, the media is missing a greater danger:

Of the 20 samples of catfish from China, 14 tested positive for fluoroquinolones, an antibiotic banned for use in the United States by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The samples represent 214,260 pounds of catfish along with nearly 300,000 additional pounds of fish suspended pending analysis.

Thirteen samples of basa-type fish from Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia were tested and five of those samples were positive for fluoroquinolones. The five positive samples were from Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia.
(read the whole thing)

Like any drug, fluoroquinolones are meant to be taken in a carefully prescribed manner. Unfortunately, some fish farmers in Asia have found it to be a cheap treatment for their crops.

This is why I support the idea of country of origin labeling on all food products. The concern for what goes into the food chain that American farmers have is, unfortunately, not shared by their international colleagues.

-the Progressive Conservative

Technorati tags: food safety, fluoroquinolones, country of origin labeling