China to Tighten Control of Antibiotics in Seafood

BEIJING — China will step up inspections on the use of antibiotics in fish farms, including chemicals that can cause cancer, after contaminants caused trading partners to block its seafood exports.

"We are focusing on getting a hold on antibiotic use, especially overuse of antibiotics on fish and crustaceans, including nitrofurans and malachite green," Zhang Yuxiang, director of the market and economic information department of the Ministry of Agriculture, told a news conference on Wednesday.

The ministry said last month that malachite green, a cancer-causing chemical used by fish farmers to kill parasites, had been found in some food samples, as well as nitrofurans, an antibiotic also linked to cancer.

Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said a sampling of imported Chinese seafood from October 2006 through May 2007 found more than 15 percent of shipments were contaminated with antimicrobial agents that are not approved for use in farm-raised seafood in the United States.

Beijing has insisted food safety is a global problem, and not just limited to China. The government has banned poultry imports from Germany, the Czech Republic and Virginia, as well as pig products from Georgia in central Asia due to local outbreaks of animal disease like bird flu, Xinhua news agency said.

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