So, now we’re ready. We already know that we are buying and eating the delectable offerings of Chinese shrimp and catfish. Even if they try to claim they are Malaysian or even American.( What? You haven’t read Monday’s or Tuesday’s post? )
Don’t consider this is being done to save money on tariffs. Oh, sure, that may play as part of the issue. But, the real situation is what they are selling you (remember, my kosher diet bars these items from my menu) are tainted, at best.
Remember the 2008 scandal with infant formula? Where melamine was added to the formulation (as well as to milk) to improve the profit margins of the Chinese suppliers. (Of course, it probably also came into play because China uses cyromazine, a non-water soluble pesticide that comes from melamine. But, since that chemical is not water soluble, someone had to work pretty hard to get it into the milk and infant formula.)
As much as 25% of the fish found in various regions of the US is tainted with formaldehyde. Now, some of this formaldehyde is a result of water pollution. But, I’ll bet a lot of it is added to keep the fish from spoiling during its journey to America.
In my mind, the biggest problem is that China rampantly uses colistin for animal husbandry. And, as we learned Monday and Tuesday, about 90% of the antibiotics fed to pigs pass through the animals with no real changes. So, the contiguous fish farm gets overloaded with the antibiotic.
And, here comes the big kicker. Colistin in banned for use in the US and a lot of Europe (for pigs); it is the antibiotic of last resort for us humans. Which now means that we have made it possible for bacteria to become resistant to the compound.
This is not hypothetical. Scientists have found a colistin-resistance gene in at least a dozen bacteria in China. Moreover, this gene is now found in environmental samples around the world- and 4 US patients. Fish samples from China have also included carbapenem resistant bacteria, another antimicrobial that is becoming less viable to protect humans. Scientists have also found slews of aquaculture products that have the antibiotic resistant microbes. (Some of these are salmonella strains, a virulent microbial species.)
So, I suggest you start checking where your fish comes from. Because your life does depend on it.
Some days, recently, I think of becoming a vegan. Or at least a vegetarian!
Again, Chondra, if you want to be vegetarian, that’s absolutely fine.
But, if you want to include fish on your menu (I CERTAINLY do), then just seek out those fish purveyors that properly source (and document via DNA) their wares.
Or, you can come over for dinner to my house 🙂