Food supply safety becoming big concern
By Staff
Emily Russell Campbell, Regional Extension Agent
It seems we've had more than our share of food borne illness outbreaks this year. Everything from produce and peanut butter to raw hamburger and mouthwash has been recalled due to consumer health threat. Now we're hearing about the FDA stopping imports of Chinese seafood. So does this mean that our food supply is less safe than in recent years?
As you may have heard, June 28th the US prohibited the import of certain species of farm-raised seafood from China including catfish, basa, shrimp, dace, and eel. The products will be detained at the border until the seafood processors can verify that they contain no banned substances.
The FDA stresses that there is no immediate health risk. The banned substances are used as antimicrobials in the water and include nitrofuran, malachite green, gentian violet, and fluoroquinolones. The FDA had been monitoring the levels of these substances over the last several months and decided to put a stop to imports to keep the situation from getting out of control and protect the U.S. food supply. Nitrofuran, malachite green and gentian violet have been implicated as cancer causing in studies conducted on rats and mice over a period of years. Fluoroquinolones may reduce antibiotic resistance and are thus banned from aquaculture use in the U.S. The real risk to consumers is not in consuming one contaminated fish fillet from China, but rather that some consumers may consume large numbers of slightly contaminated fish over a period of years. Because the risk is not an immediate health threat, consumers are advised that there is no need to return Chinese seafood to the grocery store.
Chinese seafood imports have increased dramatically in the last year. With this dramatic increase we are finding it necessary to increase monitoring of certain imports.
Historically we have grown most of our own food in the U.S. and it has always been considered to be the safest food supply in the world. We are importing more and more every year, but we're still able to sit down at the dinner table and not think about whether our food is contaminated with potential carcinogens. The FDA, USDA and other regulatory agencies are working to keep it that way. Food processing companies both here and abroad take consumer health very seriously and work closely with regulatory agencies to maintain our safe food supply. The FDA and USDA are constantly evolving to take action in this new era of a global food supply. As for the current halt on imported seafood from China, imports are likely to resume soon, but not until processors show that the seafood is free from banned chemicals.
For more information on Food Safety, Preparation and Preservation contact Emily Russell Campbell, Regional Extension Agent for Northeast Alabama, at 256-574-2143.
