FDA bans import of drugged fish from China

FDA bans import of drugged fish from China
Food and Drug Administration announced a ban on the import of five species of seafood from China due to possible contamination with medications.

June 28 2007: 4:54 PM EDT

ROCKVILLE, Md. (CNN) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced it is blocking the import from China of five species of seafood until their importers can prove they are not contaminated.

"FDA is initiating an import alert against several species of imported Chinese farmed seafood because of numerous cases of contamination with drugs and unsafe food additives," said Dr. David Acheson, the agency's assistant commissioner for food protection, in a conference call with reporters.

The species cited are catfish, eel, shrimp, basa and dace, he said. Basa is similar to catfish; dace is similar to carp.

The medications cited include the antimicrobials nitrofuran, malachite green, gentian violet and fluoroquinolones.

Nitrofuran, malachite green, and gentian violet have been shown to cause cancer in laboratory animals.

Use of fluoroquinolones in food-producing animals can result in antibiotic resistance.

None of them is approved for use in farmed seafood in the United States and some of them have been shown to cause cancer when fed to laboratory animals for "prolonged periods of time," Acheson said.

Alerts have been issued in the past, but Thursday's announcement is the largest.

The food will not be allowed into the United States until the importer can prove it is free from harmful contaminants, Acheson said.

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