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Dye in some imported catfish a concern, state fish farmers say Thursday, May 24, 2007 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The discovery of an antifungal agent in some imported catfish in the state is a major concern for the catfish industry in the state, the director of aquaculture and fisheries at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff said Wednesday. "This really makes you wonder what else is in" imported catfish, Carole Engle said. "This really is an important issue." Many see the importation of less expensive catfish from Asia as a threat to the Arkansas' $500 million a year catfish business and the catfish industry throughout the Mississippi Delta. The state Department of Health and Human Services said this week that tests conducted this month found levels of the dye crystal violet, which is prohibited in the United States, in samples of Ocean Park Chinese catfish. The tainted fish has been quarantined and will be destroyed, DHHS spokeswoman Ann Wright said Wednesday. Samples of about 27,000 pounds of imported catfish were taken from six Arkansas wholesale distributors this month and tested by the federal Food and Drug Administration laboratories in Denver, Colo. The main purpose of the testing was to determine whether the fish contained antibiotics found in imported catfish in Alabama and Mississippi, Wright said. The tests for antibiotics were negative. However, the testing did find the antifungal agent in some of the imported fish, Wright said. "There is zero tolerance for crystal violet in the United States and we're working with the distributor, U.S. Food Service Distributor, who is talking with the supplier of the fish to determine whether the fish will be destroyed in the United States or re-exported to them," Wright said. Crystal violet does pose a risk to humans, but at levels much higher than those found in the imported catfish, Wright said. "We're dealing with a cancer-causing drug," said Leydon Pugh, who owns a catfish farm in Lake Village. If Crystal Violet is banned in the United States, then it also should be banned in China before that country's fish are imported in to Arkansas, Pugh said. "This is a type of drug used to overcome some type of disadvantage, such as poor water," he said. "I feel that if this chemical was found in any fish produced in this country it would be a pretty big story. There would be a stoppage in production until it could be stopped." Reed Breedlove of Lake Village, secretary/treasurer of the Catfish Farms of Arkansas, said the trade organization "guarantees our consumers a nice, healthy product that is environmentally safe." "We go through all the hoops to make sure you get an acceptable product," he said. Beyond the statewide economic significance of the catfish industry, its impact at the county level is much greater because most of the catfish farming is done in the poorer counties in Southeast Arkansas, Engle said. A recent study found that in Chicot County alone, nearly 40 percent of employment was related to the catfish industry. |
