FDA Investigates Import Seafood Claims

LOS ANGELES — The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it is checking whether shipments of Chinese seafood on an agency watch list were properly cleared for public consumption without being tested for banned drugs or chemicals.

Agency officials said that while they believe the shipments were screened correctly, they wanted more details. That review comes in response to findings The Associated Press published Tuesday that at least 1 million pounds of frozen shrimp, catfish or eel raised in Chinese ponds were on an agency watch list but were not diverted to a lab.

Read that story here.

The 28 shipments the AP identified arrived under an FDA "import alert," which is supposed to trigger the tough screening requirement.

The seafood, equal to the amount 66,000 Americans eat in a year, did not pose an immediate public health risk; the FDA has worried that long-term exposure to substances fed to some Chinese seafood could increase the risk of cancer or make antibiotics less potent.

Read the full Associated Press story here.