CANCER-CAUSING ANTIBIOTIC DETECTED IN SHIPMENT OF FROZEN SHRIMP FROM CHINA
U.S., Canada Split Over Chinese Shrimp

A Chinese seafood company exempted from U.S. safety inspections under a pilot project has been cited by Canada after a cancer-causing antibiotic was detected in a shipment of frozen shrimp.

Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products Corp. is the only Chinese seafood company exempted from automatic U.S. Food and Drug Administration safety inspections. But since October, it has been on Canada's "import alert" list, subjecting its shipments to greater scrutiny.

A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official said the U.S. didn't know about the Canadian action until asked by The Wall Street Journal. The HHS official said FDA officials will talk to their Canadian and Chinese counterparts before deciding whether to rescind the company's exemption in the U.S.

Chinese companies have faced a slew of product-safety recalls involving toys, pet food, tires and other products this year. The FDA said seafood tainted with illegal antibiotics poses no immediate threat to consumers' health but could lead to long-term harm.
Chosen by Beijing

Guolian's special FDA arrangement means its shipments get the same treatment as most U.S. imports. Only about 1% of most imports are subject to FDA inspections. But the FDA blocks all imports of five types of farm-raised seafood from China -- shrimp, catfish, eel, basa and dace -- until they are proved to be free or contaminants. Importers pay for the tests, which run up to $3,000 a shipment.

HHS spokesman Kevin Schweers said that under a pilot project Guolian was chosen by Beijing to demonstrate how China's 700 seafood processors could obtain exemptions from the seafood inspections. "After we accepted the proposal, FDA inspectors conducted a rigorous review of the company," he said. "They determined that the products met U.S. health standards. ... Since that decision, other companies have applied for an exemption and we're reviewing the merits of their requests."

Some critics have claimed Guolian's special treatment has more to do with its connections to China's government. "There are a lot of people who are doing the right thing, but they are not getting the benefit that Guolian is getting because they don't have the political connection," said Benjamin England, a 17-year FDA veteran who now works as an import-export consultant.

Guolian general manager Chen Han said the U.S. exemption was granted "because of our good quality, and it had nothing to do with the government pressing it on our behalf." The Canadian alert, Mr. Chen said, was a mistake. He said it appeared that another company had stolen Guolian's identity -- perhaps using false paperwork. He said the company had sent an email about the matter to Canada's food-inspection agency.

EARLIER CITATION
Mary Ann Green, director of fish, seafood, and production at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said that email didn't arrive. Canada said it started inspecting all shipments of Chinese shrimp for the antibiotic nitrofuran in September 2006, and the first three shipments from Guolian passed inspection. But the fourth shipment, which had been routed through the U.S., failed inspection. Canada flagged Guolian on Oct. 19. Since then, Guolian hasn't exported its products to Canada. Use of nitrofuran in food animals was largely banned world-wide by 2002.
The six-year-old company is no stranger to the FDA. Its tilapia was found to contain malachite green, a toxic chemical used as a dye, and was put on an import alert in July 2006. But two months later, the FDA visited its 645,830-square-foot plant and it passed inspection, the HHS official said.

By JANE ZHANG
December 15, 2007