US stops Chilean salmon imports after finding contaminants

FIS
July 18, 2013

The Agency for US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stopped imports of fresh and frozen salmon produced in Chile by the Norwegian multinational firm Marine Harvest.

The FDA took this action following the discovery, on 5 June, of traces of crystal violet, a chemical carcinogen compound in a batch of salmon from that company.

The crystal violet is an antifungal product that is prohibited in Chile and the US due to its carcinogenic effects.

The sales and marketing director for Marine Harvest, Gianfranco Nattero, reported that following the discovery of this substance, "all shipments of fresh and frozen salmon from this trans-national firm to the US have been seized," according to what Ecocéanos News published.

"The ban does not extend to third-party products imported by Marine Harvest, or to smoked salmon," stated the manager.

Nattero said US authorities that are responsible for the control of food and the Norwegian trans-national firm are investigating the potential sources of contamination with the prohibited antifungal substance.

"We're checking everything: food, processing stage and packaging phase. All of it. We do not use crystal violet, and our own analysis, such as the official sampling programmes in Chile have not detected it," he added.

Meanwhile, the company sent samples to independent laboratories, and expects to have the results of the analysis in the next 10 days.

Read the full article in FIS.

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Posted July 18th, 2013