'The Chinese are sending us their junk'SOARING IMPORTS
In March, inspectors checking Chinese seafood arriving at U.S. ports made some unsettling discoveries: fish infected with salmonella in Baltimore and Seattle, and shrimp with banned veterinary drugs in Florida.
Meanwhile, a shipment intercepted in Los Angeles on March 19 and labeled "channel catfish" wasn't catfish at all, though records don't say what it was.
Supermarket frozen food sections routinely are filled with imported fish filets, shrimp and crab meat — which must contain country-of-origin labels on packaging.
No such disclosure is required for fish served in restaurants, so people generally can't know with certainty the country of origin for the fish or shrimp they order.
Records at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show how surging Chinese imports are meeting the demand of seafood-loving Americans. For instance, between 2000 and 2007, imports of farm-raised tilapia from China — a staple in restaurants — soared nine-fold, to more than 240 million pounds.
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China rapidly has become the leading exporter of seafood to the United States, flooding supermarkets and restaurants. And while China agreed late last year to improve the safety of food exports, the inspectors' March findings were not isolated cases.
According to Food and Drug Administration inspectors turned away nearly 400 shipments of tainted seafood in a year's time from China. Only a tiny fraction of imports are inspected at all, and even fewer are tested.
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Seafood is considered one of the most risky imports, and those from China steadily have risen. When the FDA does turn away shipments, usually it is because the food contains veterinary drugs, among them nitrofurans, a family of antibiotics banned by the FDA because tests showed they cause cancer in animals.
More than 100 of the shipments were rejected for being filthy, decomposed or otherwise unfit for consumption, according to the records.
The FDA and the Chinese government agreed on new procedures aimed at preventing tainted and dangerous food and drugs from reaching American shores. But skeptics question whether the new, voluntary arrangement has sufficient teeth.
Meanwhile, Chinese seafood is a prime target of legislation in Congress to revamp decades-old inspection mechanisms in hopes of protecting Americans in a globalized food system.
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Retired FDA official William Hubbard, formerly the FDA's associate commissioner,argue that change is urgently needed.
Hubbard, who retired in 2005, recalled inspectors reporting particularly disturbing methods of Chinese aquaculture: raising chickens in cages kept above fish-ponds — a potential source of the salmonella in seafood, he said.
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Hitchens sounded a common refrain in the American aquaculture industry: "Here in Illinois, we're very conscious of trying to get out a fresh product that is natural and without antibiotics."
Echoed Brenda Lyons, whose family grows prawns in Sandoval, Ill.: "We're not going to compete with China. We're not going to grow a bunch of junk. We're selling live, fresh fish. And they can't supply that from over there."
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