May 10, 2007

Mississippi recalls catfish from China sold in grocery store

Mississippi Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Lester Spell has pulled Chinese catfish from seven more grocery stores after samples tested positive for federally banned antibiotics.

State Commissioner Lester Spell last week ordered four stores to stop selling the fish.

State health officials are waiting on testing by the US FDA before taking action.

Last week, state health officials sent catfish samples from distributors to an FDA-approved lab in Atlanta.

The sale of Chinese catfish were halted after an additional seven catfish tested positive for the antibiotics. So far, 11 of 16 samples taken across Mississippi have tested positive.

The samples contained traces of two types of antibiotics, ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin which  can cause serious nerve, muscle and heart problems

Mississippi has a zero-tolerance policy for the antibiotics.

Alabama has banned catfish from China after finding traces of prohibited antibiotic in a shipment, whereas Louisiana has mandated that all imported seafood from China would be tested for banned antibiotics.

In the Alabama shipment, 14 of the 20 Chinese catfish tested contained antibiotic. Louisiana tested 14 samples of seafood from the US, China, Vietnam and Thailand. One sample from China and one from Vietnam was tested positive for fluoroquinolones.