A recently released three-minute film puts the spotlight on Vietnamese catfish farming practices. The footage — showing crowded, polluted growing conditions — was shot during the third week of April by a crew hired by Catfish Farmers of America.
Appeal to OMB Director to Put Food Safety First
Read this letter from The Catfish Farmers of America to OMB Director Peter Orszag. This is a response to the letter sent to Dir. Orszag by members of Congress who seem more concerned about protecting Asia’s exports, than keeping food safe for Americans.
Food Safety Website SAFECATFISH.COM Launched Today
The website exposes the health and safety dangers to American consumers created by the Food and Drug Administration’s weak inspection system for imported seafood.
Still No Pangasius Inspections
It has been almost two years since Congress requested that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) expand its inspections of meat and poultry products to pangasius but inspections remain stuck in red tape.
USDA Catfish Inspections — Unresolved
As part of the 2008 farm bill, Congress instructed the USDA to expand its inspections of meat and poultry products to catfish. The inspections were supposed to begin within six months of the farm bill’s passage….Now, nearly two years later, the inspections remain tied up in bureaucratic red tape.
Vietnam: Unqualified seafood for export on alarm
Examinations of the residues of banned chemicals and antibiotic at enterprises show the main reason of Vietnam’s unqualified seafood came from breeding.
Weighty issue: Mislabeling of frozen fish, seafood rarely punished
Mislabeling common, but enforcement lacking, leaving mostly self-policing.
Catfish Processing Down 9 Percent From Last Year
Farm-raised catfish processed during April 2010 totaled 37.1 million pounds round weight, down 9 percent from April 2009.
Bill would require origin labels for catfish
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Lawmakers on Tennessee’s Capitol Hill are considering a bill that would require catfish to have a “country of origin” label.
