August 29, 2005

US will not ban Vietnamese catfish nationwide
 

The US government said there were no plans for a nationwide ban on Vietnamese catfish, although some southern states had called for it.

Imported basa catfish from Vietnam were recently banned in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, following allegations that they contained illegal antibiotics that could cause consumers allergic reactions or create antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Sales of US farm-raised catfish, mostly grown in the southeast, totalled 300 million pounds in 2004, compared with Vietnamese basa catfish sales at 9 million pounds for that year, according to the government.