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Nitrofuran found in Chinese shrimp

Five batches of frozen shrimp from China tested positive for the banned antibiotic nitrofuran, Department of Health (DOH) officials said yesterday.

"Further importation of shrimp from China will be suspended until we are convinced that the situation has been remedied," Bureau of Food Sanitation director Cheng Huei-wen (鄭慧文) told a news conference.

Nitrofuran is sometimes added to aquaculture ponds to protect fish from harmful microorganisms. However, the use of nitrofuran in food production is banned in this country as well as many others such as the US and in the EU because of possible links with cancer and congenital birth defects.

Cheng said the DOH decided to up its inspections of Chinese seafood from 5 percent to 50 percent of all shipments in early July after quality control issues with Chinese seafood came to light in the US.

Since then, five lots of Chinese shrimp has tested positive for nitrofuran. Inspection was also stepped up for other Chinese aquaculture products but has not yet turned up incidents of products tainted with banned substances thus far.

In the five batches of shrimp that tested positive for nitrofuran, residues ranged from 1.1ppb to 39.2ppb in concentration of nitrofuran metabolites. The total amount of tainted shrimp adds up to 46,000kg.

"We will not allow Chinese shrimp to be imported until we receive a good explanation of how they will prevent nitrofuran from tainting the shrimp again," Cheng said.

Last October, the public was shocked when hairy crabs imported from China, long considered a delicacy, tested positive for nitrofuran. However, unlike last year, when tainted crabs were already sold and eaten by the time test results became public, none of the five shipments of tainted shrimp have made it to the stores.

Yang Chen-chang (楊振昌), a toxicologist at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, said the public should not overreact to the news.

"Of course, since nitrofuran is a banned additive, it should not be there in our food," said Yang.

"However, the concentration of nitrofuran present in recent cases, in the parts per billion range, is not really high enough for people to get worried about."

It is still legal to use nitrofuran to treat problems such as urinary tract infections, although it is rarely prescribed nowadays, Yang said.

An effective treatment dose is much higher than an average person could reasonably consume from tainted shrimp, he said.
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