On Thursday, June 28, the FDA banned the import of five different kinds of fish and shrimp from China. The seafood contained drugs that have been found to cause cancer.
The species include catfish, shrimp, eels, basa — a kind of catfish — and the carp-like dace. The FDA is not ordering that the products be pulled out of restaurants or from supermarket shelves but said that all incoming shipments would be stopped immediately. The chemicals found in the food “could cause health problems if consumed over a long period of time,” said David Acheson, the FDA’s assistant commissioner for food protection.
This ban on imports comes after numerous different products have been recalled from the country over the past couple of months. The Chinese government has recently been trying to enforce safety regulations more strictly in food processing plants.
The chemical found in the banned seafood was called malachite green. The drug is used to cure fungal infections in fish. The FDA states “there is no imminent threat to the public”. There have been no recorded illnesses and the chemicals found in the fish were just over detectable levels.
For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Defective and Dangerous Products.