May 26, 2011

USDA conducts hearings on catfish laws

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has begun officiating public meetings to listen to feedbacks on the proposed regulation for a compulsory inspection programme of catfish and catfish products.

FSIS will have to decide if all or just some pangasius will fall under the new regulation moving responsibility for the inspection and regulation of catfish to the USDA from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Shifting the inspections of all catfish, both domestically raised and imported from Asia, is either a matter of food safety or unfair trade depending on who one asks. 

"We support the USDA's stronger and broader option which would include all catfish species raised for consumption," said Butch Wilson, president of the Catfish Farmers of America (CFA).