US government urged to do more tests on Chilean salmon
Environmental and consumer groups in the US requested the government for more tests on Chile's farm-raised salmon after German authorities found banned antifungal and antiparasite chemicals in the fish.
The US Food and Drug Administration only tests only 40 samples of the more than 114,000 tonnes of fish imported from Chile.
Last week, German health authorities found the banned crystal violet and abamectina antibiotics in samples of Chilean farmed salmon, according to media sources.
A 2007 report by the international environmental group Oceana claimed Chilean producers use up to 300 times more antibiotics per tonne of salmon than their Norwegian counterparts. Chile and Norway are the world's top two salmon farming countries, together accounting for roughly 80 percent of global production.