Tainted trout from a Taipei County area fish farm was found to contain as much as 1.094 parts per million (ppm) of the banned antibiotic nitrofuran, Bureau of Food Sanitation (BFS) officials said yesterday.
The concentration of nitrofuran found in the fish, 1.094ppm, is the highest on record, BFS Director Cheng Huei-wen (
"In previous instances of nitrofuran contamination, the concentration of nitrofuran is measured in parts per billion rather than parts per million," Cheng told a press conference at the Department of Health.
The sample also tested positive for chloramphenicol, another banned antibiotic, at the concentration of 0.6 parts per billion, he said.
The sample of tainted fish was collected at at the Yangmei branch of the French superstore Geant.
An investigation that ran up the supply chain found that the fish originated from the fish farm of Chang Shen-di (
Fish from Chang's farm tested positive for banned antibiotics last September and Chang could face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$150,000 from local health authorities in addition to punishments meted out by the Council of Agriculture. The bureau said that stock of fish from the farm have been pulled off the shelf until further notice.
Despite this case, Cheng urged the public not to panic or start foregoing fish.
"Even though the concentration of nitrofuran in this case is quite high compared to other incidents, it is still not really high enough to cause a serious risk," Cheng said.
The use of nitrofuran in food production is banned in this country as well as others such as the US and the EU. However, the antibiotic is still used on occasion to treat urinary tract infections, Cheng said.
"The risk is low, and it would not be wise for the public to forego fish, which brings nutritional benefits," he said.
This case is the only one that revealed the presence of the banned antibiotics out of 87 samples of seafood tested this year.
"Last year we inspected 91 aquaculture products and found that 15 contained banned antibiotics. This year we have only had this one case," Cheng said.
An additional 38 aquaculture samples will be tested before the end of the year, he said.
Nitrofuran was just in the news yesterday when the bureau announced on Saturday that five lots of frozen white shrimp from China tested positive for nitrofuran, albeit at far lower levels than this case.
Nitrofuran was involved in 13 of the 15 aquaculture samples found to contain banned antibiotics last year.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS