China will take further measures to ensure that all aquatic
products in the country are free of hazardous drug residues, a
senior official at the Ministry of Agriculture has said.
The measures include a nationwide inspection on the use of
drugs, a blacklist of violators and better education and training
of farmers, Chen Yide, vice-director of the ministry's fisheries
bureau, told China Daily in an interview.
He acknowledged that despite the progress made in the past few
years, drug residues are still found in some aquatic products from
a very small number of unscrupulous farms which are driven by
profits.
"Therefore, further efforts are needed to eradicate the problem,
especially the residue of antibiotics," he said.
Chen revealed that efforts would be made in the following
fields:
Launch an inspection to crack down on the illegal use of
forbidden drugs and chemicals in fish farms, and to check licenses
of the farms.
Establish a database of violators and place them under close
watch.
Speed up research on new drugs and vaccines.
Give farmers proper training and keep them informed of relevant
standards.
Bring China's drug residue measurement up to international
standards.
In response to a recent US ban on five types of seafood products
from China for allegedly containing illegal drug residues, Chen
said the move was unfair and unscientific.
"It's against the rules of the World Trade Organization to block
all products for problems found in individual products," he said,
adding that the great majority of fishery products from China are
up to the standard.
He cited the latest ministry tests to say that at least 95
percent of Chinese aquatic products met food safety standards. For
instance, he said, 99.8 percent of aquatic products met the
standard in terms of chloramphenicol (an antibiotic) residue this
year, up from 87 percent in 2003.
A higher percentage of export products met the standard because
the government applies stricter inspection and quarantine
benchmarks on outbound products, he explained
Ministry figures also show that despite safety concerns about
some China-made products this year, exports of aquatic products
have recorded strong growth.
In the first five months, the country exported US$3.83 billion
worth of aquatic products, up 15 percent over the same period last
year.
In a related development, a delegation headed by officials from
the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) arrived in Beijing yesterday on a
five-day fact-finding mission on food and drug safety.
(China Daily August 1, 2007)
