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Press Release: Green Party

Green MP and Safe Food spokesperson Sue Kedgley is calling on the Government to urgently implement much tougher controls on all farmed seafood imported from China, in line with new American controls.

The United States has instituted strict new measures following tests which found that imported Chinese seafood contained residues of the carcinogenic antimicrobials nitrofuran, malachite green, and gentian violet. It also contained fluoroquinolone, an antibiotic critical to human health, but threatened by antibiotic resistance due to overuse in livestock production.

Tests conducted within China have also found residues of DDT in seafood at levels regarded as posing a potential health threat to consumers. The banned organochlorines dieldrin and heptachlor have also been detected.

"The controls will mean seafood shipments from China to the United States will be stalled until proven free of residues. New Zealand imports large amounts of farmed seafood from China, and it's essential for consumer safety that we implement similar controls," Ms Kedgley says.

"Last year, for example, we imported 937 tonnes of predominantly farmed crustacean (such as shrimps) from China, and none of it was tested for residues or required to be labelled with it's country of origin.

"The New Zealand Government must take steps to protect consumers from the unfolding Chinese tainted food scandal. Some observers have commented that food safety in China today is equivalent to food safety in the US meat industry 100 years ago. Even China's own watchdog agency has acknowledged there are safety problems with Chinese seafood exports.

"A recent report by the Asian Development Bank and World Health Organisation concluded that "unsafe food in the Peoples Republic of China remains a serious threat to public health" and that "there is a pressing need for reform.

"The report identified that food regulations and standards were made in an ad hoc way without the benefit of basic food law, and there is no overall effective coordination of the food safety system leaving "inevitable gaps."

"So far, all the New Zealand Government has done is to turn a blind eye, preferring to value a potential free trade deal over the safety of New Zealand consumers.

"That the Government fails to test what is now well-known around the world to be a widely-contaminated food supply, and refuses to give local consumers the right to identify what food originates in China is an outrage," Ms Kedgley says.

ends

Source: scoop.co.nz