[Greens-Media] Food authority asleep at wheel: lets in dangerous Chinese seafood

[John Kaye]

Food authority asleep at wheel: lets in dangerous Chinese seafood
 
Media release: 4 July 2007
 
NSW government ministers responsible for Food Standards Australia New
Zealand (FSANZ) should put a rocket under the food regulator after it
failed to order comprehensive testing of Chinese seafood for dangerous
and banned antibiotics, according to Greens NSW MP and Consumer Affairs
spokesperson John Kaye.
 
Dr Kaye said: “The US Food and Drug Administration safeguards American
consumers by ensuring that every batch of Chinese farm-raised seafood is
tested for the complete range of banned antibiotics.
 
“NSW consumers deserve at least the same levels of protection as the US
government gives to its citizens.
 
“Because of the failure of the FSANZ to act, seafood consumers in NSW
are being unknowingly exposed to banned and dangerous antibiotics in
imported farm-raised seafood. 
 
“These include nitrofurans and malachite green, both of which are
banned in the USA for most systemic agricultural uses.
 
“Nitrofurans have been proven to cause cancer. Malachite green has been
found to be toxic to human cells and is associated with liver tumour
formation.
 
“NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald and Health Minister John
Hatzistergos are members of the Ministerial Council that sets food
safety policy for FSANZ . 
 
“They have an obligation to NSW consumers to make sure that every batch
of Chinese farmed seafood is fully tested, not just one in twenty, and
that they are examined for the full range of dangerous antibiotics.
 
“Food regulators in Australia are failing to protect the health of
consumers.
 
“Ministers Macdonald and Hatzistergos should get cracking to make sure
it happens.
 
“In the meantime they should warn NSW consumers that Chinese prawns,
basa and eel could be contaminated,” Dr Kaye said. 
 
 
For more information:John Kaye 0407 195 455
 
----------------------------------
John Kaye
Greens member of the NSW Parliament
phone: (02) 9230 2668
fax: (02) 9230 2586
mobile: 0407 195 455
email: John.Kaye at parliament.nsw.gov.au
 
mail: Parliament House, Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000