AP: Suspect Chinese Seafood Slips Past U.S Inspectors

[RestoreGore]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070808/ap_on_he_me/seafood_safety_failures

By JUSTIN PRITCHARD and ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press Writers
Tue Aug 7, 11:33 PM ET

At least 1 million pounds of suspect Chinese seafood landed on American store shelves and dinner plates despite a Food and Drug Administration order that the shipments first be screened for banned drugs or chemicals, an Associated Press investigation found.

The frozen shrimp, catfish and eel arrived at U.S. ports under an "import alert," which meant the FDA was supposed to hold every shipment until it had passed a laboratory test.

But that was not what happened, according to an AP check of shipments since last fall. One of every four shipments the AP reviewed got through without being stopped and tested. The seafood, valued at $2.5 million, was equal to the amount 66,000 Americans eat in a year.

FDA officials stuck the pond-raised seafood on their watch list because of worries it contained suspected carcinogens or antibiotics not approved for seafood.

No illnesses have been reported, but the episode raises serious questions about the FDA's ability to police the safety of America's food imports.

"The system is outdated and it doesn't work well. They pretend it does, but it doesn't," said Carl R. Nielsen, who oversaw import inspections at the agency until he left in 2005 to start a consulting firm, FDAImports.com. "You can't make the assumption that these would be isolated instances."

If the system cannot stop known risks, Nielsen said, how can it protect against hidden dangers, such as the ingredients from China that made toothpaste potentially poisonous and killed dozens of pets earlier this year?

snip

The importer with the most cases was Florida-based Tampa Bay Fisheries.

Chief executive Robbie Paterson said 23 shipments of breaded or dusted frozen shrimp delivered between October and May were not inspected. In rare cases, the FDA removes from its watch list companies that have passed five straight tests. Paterson said he assumed that was why Tampa Bay's shipments went through.

Not so: Tampa Bay's shrimp supplier — the Fuqing City Dongyi Trading Co. — was on the watch list.

Three other companies said a total of five shipments of catfish, eel or shrimp were not stopped and tested.

Like many others in the importing business interviewed for this story, Paterson said he believed that import alerts were completely effective and that Chinese seafood poses no health risk.

FDA officials "are diligently doing the inspections as they see fit," Paterson said.

The expanded testing mandate has rattled China. U.S. importers said they are being told that the government is holding back shipments until tests show they will pass U.S. muster. The disruption has yet to result in any substantial price increases in the United States.

"I don't really know why they conducted the special test on our products," said a woman who identified herself as Miss Lin, a spokeswoman for Shantou Red Garden Foodstuff, which the FDA placed on its watch list in April after finding its dusted shrimp contained nitrofurans, an antibiotic that may cause cancer. "We've been exporting products to the U.S. for many years and we respect their standards and we meet their standards."

___

Associated Press writer Christopher Bodeen in Shanghai, China, contributed to this report.
end of excerpt.
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Ok, I'm getting tired of this. Pet food, toothpaste, and a recent recall of toys from China because of lead and now this? If I didn't know any better I would think it was deliberate at this point. And not just on one part. The INCOMPETENCE of the systems that are supposed to work to protect us in this country is APPALLING. HOW does it "slip past?" How do bridges fall down? How do "terrorists" attack us? And Congress members always feign outrage when things like this happen and say the system is broken, blah blah... Yes it is and WE know that so why the hell aren't they doing anything about it? Gee, could it be that China also now has us by the proverbial balls economically as well because we sold our soul? I'm so sick and tired of all of this. What can we trust?

[Poll_Blind]

1. What's this "Slips Past" shit?! Did they camouflage it?

No, the headline should read "FDA lacks ability to test suspect food and so passes it, unchecked, to consumers."

PB

[RestoreGore]

2. Yes, I agree... They wouldn' t like my title

[RestoreGore]

3. Now it says, Seafood From China Wasn't Screened

Do inspectors do anything these days?

[Poll_Blind]

4. They're funded and _allowed_ to do very little. Look into the....

...regulations placed by the FDA to hamper testing for, for instance, mad cow disease.

Shameful.

PB