U.S. bans import of certain seafood from China
WASHINGTON: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has blocked shipment of shrimp and certain types of fish from China following revelation during laboratory tests that these items could be contaminated with harmful drugs.
The FDA said Thursday it will not allow farm-raised shrimp, catfish, eel and two other fish verities to be imported into the country until it is satisfied with the quality of the products and there is sufficient independent certification that these items are free from drugs. The agency, however, said there are no imminent health hazards.
This is perhaps one of the rare instances where the FDA has issued a blanket ban on products from the entire country unlike its usual practice of curbing entry of products from specific manufacturers. The FDA had recently banned import of cantaloupes from Mexico as these were found to be contaminated with salmonella.
A spokesperson for the FDA said the action followed observance of a “a continued pattern of violations [with] no sign of abatement." He said the agency was forced to take the decision after several warnings to Chinese exporters did not yield any result.
Three U.S. states -- Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi -- have already banned the sale of Chinese catfish after antibiotic traces were found in specimens.
FDA officials said tests carried out on samples of shrimp, catfish, eel, basa and dace have showed that there were drug residues -- mostly cancer-causing antimicrobials and certain banned antibiotics -- in many samples.
The spokesperson said the agency is initiating the ban in order to protect public health in the country.
More than 80 per cent of all shrimp requirements of the country are met through imports and China is the second largest source of this item after Thailand. China is also the largest producer in the world of farm-raised fish and it accounts for nearly 22 per cent of the total U.S. imports of seafood.
According to the department of agriculture, seafood imports from China in 2006 were valued at $1.9 billion, which is a 193 per cent increase over 2001.
Imported Chinese goods had been in the news recently. Some 450,000 tires made in China were recalled following problems noticed in their treads, while Chinese-made toothpaste has been recalled because of contamination with an antifreeze chemical.
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