WASHINGTON - Seldom do U.S. businesses seek — even lobby for – more government regulation of their industries. But American catfish farmers see federal regulation as the only thing between their livelihoods and financial ruin.
NBC News: Could Your Seafood Contain Toxic Chemicals?
Investigation reveals substances that could cause serious health issues. When you think of tainted seafood, you may think of the Gulf oil spill. But 80 percent of the fish and shrimp Americans eat actually comes from overseas — and a TODAY investigation that aired Tuesday found that some of that seafood may contain toxic chemicals that can cause serious health problems.
NBC News Investigation of Imported Catfish
Is your favorite seafood toxic? Click the headline to watch the NBC News investigation on toxic seafood imports and food safety.
Is Your Favorite Seafood Toxic?
The seafood importers’ lobby thinks consumers don’t care about the safety of the food they eat. Listen to what the lobby told NBC News:
Trade Trumps Consumers on Anniversary of Catfish Regulations
The Obama Administration should stop dragging its feet and publish the proposed catfish inspection regulations immediately so that U.S. consumers are protected.
U.S. CATFISH FARMERS URGE USDA FOOD SAFETY CHIEF HAGEN TO ENFORCE SAFE CATFISH LAW
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 –The Catfish Farmers of America today urged newly confirmed USDA food safety chief Elisabeth Hagen to enforce a law approved by Congress more than two years ago requiring tough new USDA inspections and regulation of all catfish sold in America.
Group Asks USDA, FDA to Move on Catfish
In another act of the ongoing catfish regulatory drama, the advocacy group Food and Water Watch sent a letter yesterday to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius recommending they work together to get catfish inspections rolling as soon as possible.
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.
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.
