May 31, 2012

Australia bans Vietnam fish containing antibiotic

Fish imported from Vietnam which has been reported to contain a specific antibiotic are blocked by biosecurity officials, and is banned in Australia over health concerns.

Detailed reports suggest that five consignments of fish exported by Vietnam, including basa fillets, catfish and frozen fish cutlets, were found to be containing a banned antibiotic. It has been revealed that even medical experts have raise concerns over the use of banned antibiotics in Asian fish imports.

Previous reports suggest that a similar case of use of banned antibiotic in fish imported from Vietnam was encountered in Japan and Canada.

It has been unveiled that Australian majorly depends on fish import from Asian countries, including China, Thailand and Vietnam. Rather, Australia spent approximately US$162 million, this year for seafood imports from Vietnam, which last year accounted for only US$10 million.

It has been rated that the seafood imports business is growing rapidly in Australia. However, with the publishing of recent reports by Federal Agriculture Department's food safety branch, which confirmed that the seafood imports contain banned antibiotic, the business rates might fall.

The safety branch's spokeswoman Narelle Clegg said, "The trend that we see with fish, and it's generally about antibiotics, is that they are very low levels of residues but they are there nonetheless".