The Catfish Institute in Louisiana has warned that the imports could contain melamine, the substance discovered in Chinese milk powder. It is told that Louisiana has been fighting the sale of seafood imported from China for years, according to Daily World. It was in 2005 when the strongest measure was taken by the state agriculture department by stopping the sales of Asian seafood after it was discovered that the imports contained fluoroquinolones. The antibiotic could boost the resistance of potentially harmful bacteria found in the fish.
The agency said that it such bacteria are passed along to humans in the food chain, the efficiency of needed antibiotics could be reduced. The Catfish Institute says the US Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for ensuring the safety of imported fish, currently does not require screening of seafood products for melamine. The Institute added that this is despite the fact that laboratory studies of melamine-fed catfish, trout, tilapia and salmon by the FDA’s Animal Drugs Research Center found melamine concentrations of up to 200 parts per million.
After the news broke out the Chinese government has begun to crack down on melamine suppliers. It is found that melamine has been linked to illness on the part of thousands of children. Still, Chinese shipments of contaminated fish continue to be detained at US ports, exposing holes in the Chinese food-safety system that analysts say is undermined by a lack of resources, corruption and unscrupulous businesses that will sometimes mislabel or reroute goods through other countries.
