July 4, 2007

 

Pollution and high density plagues Chinese seafood production

 

 

Even as most Chinese factories claim that their seafood products are made under the strictest condicitons, the surrounding waters, which have been heavily polluted, often meant that huge doses of antibiotics are necessary, a New York Times report has found.

 

The report, which looked at Xulong eel factory in the Pearl River Delta in China, noted that the factories and many like it in China, are located in areas where there are heavy industrial activity and where waters have been fouled with industrial chemicals or farm effluents. Xulong is reportedly one of the biggest and cleanest eel exporters in China.

 

Even as officials highlight the stringent food safety procedures at the pant, such as multiple disinfection and testing labs, some of the shipments have been rejected by US authorities due to the presence of antibiotics. 

 

The company, established in 1983, claimed that a lot of other fish producers in China are far worse. In its defense it also claimed that it is one of the few producers allowed to ship eel to Europe.

 

The recent US crackdowns on Chinese seafood is threatening China's US$35 billion a year seafood farming industry.

 

Seafood shipments from China to the US have nearly quadrupled in the past five years to US$1.9 billion last year and accounts for a fifth of US seafood imports.

 

However, more than half of the contaminated shipments detected come from China. Yet, the detected shipments are only a tiny fraction of what goes through US customs each year. Only about 1 percent of all fish shipments are checked for antibiotics.

 

EU officials have reported more cases of Chinese shipments rejected for antibiotics cases as well. The number of Chinese companies given warnings by EU member countries have risen from three last year to nine so far this year. Shipments of contaminated seafood even bear certificates from Chinese authorities, officials said.

 

Experts say that due the high density fish farming in China practiced in China makes its easily prone to fish diseases, hence the liberal application of antibiotics.

 

A recent study by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences also found that seafood products in 11 coastal cities in the Pearl River Delta area were heavily contaminated with pesticides, including DDT, which was banned in China in 1983.

 

Another study released in May by Chinese scientists found that coastal waters around Guangdong are poulluted by large deposits of oil, lead, arsenic, mercury and copper.

 

A huge toxic ''red tide,'' threatened the region in early June, when rains would have brought an algal bloom carrying industrial waste to some of the region's biggest seafood-producing areas, prompting authorities to warn consumers not to eat local seafood.

 

However, Chinese exporters have said the FDA restrictions are overly harsh and accused the US of trade protectionism. The antibiotic issue was never raised for years until the rising imports became a problem for US producers, they charged.