fish (warning) of the day

Taipei Times warns DOH says fish samples contain malachite green

Perhaps it's time to give up on fish

Seven of 25 samples of aquatic products examined last month were found to contain small amounts of a banned fungicide, the Department of Health said on Friday night.

The samples of tilapia, grouper and threadfin fish that were contaminated with malachite green had residue amounts of around 0.002ppm — the maximum level acceptable in the EU.
Taiwan’s food safety law bans the presence of residues of malachite green in aquatic products sold locally.

The toxic chemical, used to treat external fungal and parasitic infections on fish and shellfish, has been found to harm animals’ livers in laboratory tests.

Hsu Ching-hsin (許景鑫), a DOH food safety official, said the contaminated aquatic samples were collected from seven places, including a farmers’ association supermarket in Taitung County, a seafood restaurant in Kaohsiung County, a fish market in Chiayi City, a Carrefour shop in Taipei City’s Wanhua District (萬華), a department store in Taichung County, a seafood restaurant in Taichung City and a coastal fish market in Keelung City.

for those of you not familiar with taiwan, this means EVERYWHERE

Even though the contaminated fish might have been consumed, Hsu said the DOH would track all related suppliers, which could be slapped with fines of between NT$60,000 and NT$300,000 if they are found to have illegally used the fungicide for disinfection.