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Feds: Drugs in seafood from China

Antibiotics have shown up in tested catfish, basa, dace and others, health officials say.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 29, 2007

WASHINGTON - Farmed seafood has now joined tires, toothpaste and toy trains on the list of tainted and defective products from China that could be hazardous to a person's health.

Federal health officials said Thursday they were detaining three types of Chinese fish - catfish, basa and dace - as well as shrimp and eel after repeated testing turned up contamination with drugs unapproved in the United States for use in farmed seafood.

The officials said there have been no reports of illnesses nor do the products pose any immediate health risk. They stopped short of ordering a ban on fresh and frozen seafood.

The Food and Drug Administration announcement was the latest in an expanding series of problems with imported Chinese products that seemingly permeate U.S. society.

Many local seafood retailers, wholesalers and restaurants said they get shrimp from the gulf and catfish from U.S. sources. They speculated that the biggest impact might be on commercial users of frozen seafood, which could benefit American shrimpers and fishers who will see increased demand and better prices for their product.

Beyond the fish, federal regulators have recently warned consumers about lead paint in toy trains, defective tires and toothpaste made with diethylene glycol, a toxic ingredient more commonly found in antifreeze. All the products were imported from China.

China, meanwhile, insisted Thursday that the safety of its products was "guaranteed, " making a rare direct comment on the spreading international fears over tainted and adulterated exports.

FDA officials said the level of the drugs in the seafood was low. The FDA isn't asking stores or consumers to toss any of the suspect seafood.

"In order to get cancer in lab animals you have to feed fairly high levels of the drug over a long term, " said Dr. David Acheson, the FDA's assistant commissioner for food protection. "We're talking not days, weeks, not even months but years. At these levels you might not reach that level, but we don't want to take a chance."

He added, "We don't want to be an alarmist here. It's a low likelihood."

The FDA said sampling of Chinese imported fish between October and May repeatedly found traces of the antibiotics nitrofuran and fluoroquinolone, as well as the antifungals malachite green and gentian violet. Of particular concern are the fluoroquinolones, a family of widely used human antibiotics that the FDA forbids in seafood in part to prevent bacteria from developing resistance to these important drugs. The best known example is ciprofloxacin, sold as Cipro, which made headlines as a treatment during the 2001 anthrax attacks.

China is the third largest exporter of seafood to the United States, according to the FDA.

Times staff writer Chris Sherman contributed to this report.

[Last modified June 29, 2007, 00:49:53]