Post by unlawflcombatnt on Jul 25, 2010 20:03:48 GMT -6
from Economy In Crisis
Toxic Catfish Entering U.S. Food Supply
By Joshua Sanders
July 21, 2010
"Every year, over 85 million pounds of catfish from the Mekong River land on the shores of America to be sold in our stores and served in our restaurants, according to a mini-documentary [1] posted by Teri Cerny, of Vimeo. There are 14 times more catfish coming from the polluted Mekong River in Vietnam than there was less than 6 years ago. Just how polluted is the Mekong River?
Each year 220,000 tons of industrial waste is dumped into the Mekong River, largely in part to new industries sprouting in former rural areas due to economic expansion. What this means for the fish farmers is that every aspect of catfish raising involves water polluted not just by industrial waste, but by human waste, garbage dumps, people bathing in the water and boats refueling in the river. Though there are filters in the Mekong River, they do nothing to change the chemical makeup of the water.
These catfish farmers can catch 100 tons of fish per day, all done alongside beer and cement factories. They also readily admit that the number of fish in the catfish ponds exceed American standards. Despite this, and warnings from Vietnamese Government Health and Aquaculture officials who say that the river’s water quality and the overall quality of fishing does not meet international standards, $4.5 billion worth of seafood was exported in 2009.
So what does all this mean for the American consumer? Are there any negative elements found in these catfish? Of course there are. The FDA inspected less than 2% off these imports and in most cases they found potentially harmful carcinogens, veterinary drugs and salmonella. Given such a high likelihood of unsafe food being brought into the country, why doesn’t the FDA inspect more seafood imports?
The simple reason is because they do not have the funds to do so. Overall, the FDA is expected to inspect only 0.6% of the food it is supposed to regulate. Clearly, with developing countries exporting such large quantities of dangerous foods, inspecting just 0.6% is not nearly enough."
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Source URL: www.economyincrisis.org/content/toxic-catfish-entering-us-food-supply
Toxic Catfish Entering U.S. Food Supply
By Joshua Sanders
July 21, 2010
"Every year, over 85 million pounds of catfish from the Mekong River land on the shores of America to be sold in our stores and served in our restaurants, according to a mini-documentary [1] posted by Teri Cerny, of Vimeo. There are 14 times more catfish coming from the polluted Mekong River in Vietnam than there was less than 6 years ago. Just how polluted is the Mekong River?
Each year 220,000 tons of industrial waste is dumped into the Mekong River, largely in part to new industries sprouting in former rural areas due to economic expansion. What this means for the fish farmers is that every aspect of catfish raising involves water polluted not just by industrial waste, but by human waste, garbage dumps, people bathing in the water and boats refueling in the river. Though there are filters in the Mekong River, they do nothing to change the chemical makeup of the water.
These catfish farmers can catch 100 tons of fish per day, all done alongside beer and cement factories. They also readily admit that the number of fish in the catfish ponds exceed American standards. Despite this, and warnings from Vietnamese Government Health and Aquaculture officials who say that the river’s water quality and the overall quality of fishing does not meet international standards, $4.5 billion worth of seafood was exported in 2009.
So what does all this mean for the American consumer? Are there any negative elements found in these catfish? Of course there are. The FDA inspected less than 2% off these imports and in most cases they found potentially harmful carcinogens, veterinary drugs and salmonella. Given such a high likelihood of unsafe food being brought into the country, why doesn’t the FDA inspect more seafood imports?
The simple reason is because they do not have the funds to do so. Overall, the FDA is expected to inspect only 0.6% of the food it is supposed to regulate. Clearly, with developing countries exporting such large quantities of dangerous foods, inspecting just 0.6% is not nearly enough."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source URL: www.economyincrisis.org/content/toxic-catfish-entering-us-food-supply