A case of trout tainted with a banned antibiotic has Council of Agriculture (COA) and Department of Health (DOH) officials sniping at each other in the media.
On Sunday, the DOH said random tests of aquaculture products had showed that a trout sold in a Yangmei area store contained as much as 1.094 parts per million of nitrofuran, a suspected carcinogen.
The China Times quoted an unnamed COA official yesterday as saying that the DOH had not informed the COA of the matter quickly enough to ensure that the supplier of the tainted fish could be properly investigated.
Instead, the fisheries agency was unaware of the incident until media reports surfaced, the official said.
The DOH responded to the allegations in a press release yesterday, saying that the agricultural authorities had been appropriately apprised of the matter.
It also said that "the agricultural authorities are the first line of defense in managing aquaculture businesses. There is room for improvement in ensuring that testing is done before the product reaches the shelves."
Both the DOH and the COA test for banned antibiotics, but each is responsible for a different part of the supply chain. The COA tests fish, plants and animals while they are still on farms or other production facilities, while the DOH tests food once it reaches points of sale.
"Arguing about who is the first line of defense and who is the second line is not constructive," said James Sha (
"We are both part of the government and we should be working together to protect the health of consumers," he said.
Asked why the COA had not caught the tainted trout before it entered the market, Sha said that resources are limited and inspectors generally concentrate on fish that are more widely eaten.
"Only about 5,000 tonnes to 6,000 tonnes of trout are eaten in this country each year," Sha said. "We focus more on fish like bass and red snapper, which are consumed in much greater quantities."
In light of the incident, the fisheries agency will step up its inspection of trout, Sha said, adding that six live trout from the fish farm where the tainted trout originated have already been sent for testing.
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