East China's
Shandong Province has?put a stop
to?the sales of turbot containing excessive amounts of
carcinogens that were purposefully fed banned chemicals by fish
farmers.
Shandong, a major turbot producing area, has urged local
authorities to ban feeding turbot and other fish banned medicines
and foodstuffs in a bid to ensure food safety.
It has also called on local authorities to trace contaminated
fish and crank up inspection efforts in the raising,
transportation, storage and sales of turbot and other fish.
The Shanghai food and drug administration announced Friday it
had detected excessive residue including nitrofuran and
chloromycetinin in 30 samples of turbot. The chemicals are known to
be cancer causing agents.
Fish markets, shopping malls, and hotels have stopped selling
turbot following government warnings.
Due to their low resistance to disease, the fish, introduced
from Europe in the 1990s, are sometimes fed large quantities of
medicinal supplements which leave harmful, cancer causing residue
in their flesh.
The State Food and Drug Administration has ordered local offices
and authorities in coastal areas including Shandong, Jiangsu,
Hebei, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Liaoning, and Tianjin to
closely monitor the case and aquaculture business.
China?currently?has severe food security difficulties
and problematic food products continue to be banned. Recent cases
include parasite-infested snails, steroid-tainted pork and ducks
that were fed a cancer-causing dye to make their yolks red.
(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2006)
