Food fraud: Gel-injected shrimp from China

Posted on August 23, 2019 by Douglas Powell

Ms. Yang in the southern China port city of Guangzhou bought six high priced giant tiger prawns in October—she was happy with the purchase until she found gel inside the heads of the prawns.

Juliet Song of NTD writes that such gel, the presence of which is not typically detectable upon superficial inspection, is injected some time between when the shrimp are caught and when they’re sold, in order to add weight and thus earn a greater profit. Shrimp sold live have not been injected, because the injection would kill the shrimp.

Chinese food authorities have not been particularly active in pursuing the cases brought to their attention, according to interviews and news reports, and there is not even a consensus at which point in the production line the operation takes place.

China is the third-largest exporter of seafood to the United States, and it also exports significant amounts of shrimp and catfish, representing 2 of the 10 most consumed seafood products in the country. Nearly $150 million worth of shrimp were imported from China between January and October 2015, according to data by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The problem of adulterated shrimp has persisted for over a decade, despite new cases regularly reported in the Chinese press. Some of the first well-publicized cases of the gel-injected shrimp appeared in 2005, the same year in which the municipal government of Tianjin launched a strike-hard campaign against shrimp injectors. The report, which referred to the campaign gave no details about how many were arrested, or whether the shrimp adulteration rings were broken.

It is unclear how much, or if any of the gel-injected shrimp make their way to these shores, but food safety experts said there is reason to be concerned. The Food and Drug Administration issued an import alert on Dec. 11, 2015, about the “presence of new animals drugs and/or unsafe food additives” from seafood imported in China, including shrimp.

Wu Wenhui, a professor at Shanghai Ocean University, said in an interview in the Chinese press that customers should be wary about industrial gel ending up in shrimp, given that it’s cheaper than the edible version. “Industrial gel is used for furniture, print, and contains many heavy metals such as lead and mercury, which harms the liver and blood, and is even carcinogenic.”

But the act of injection is itself potentially unsafe.

“Even if what was injected was edible gel, which may not itself be harmful, who can guarantee that the process is aseptic?” said Liu Huiping, a member of the executive council of the Tianjin aquatic products association, in an interview with the Beijing News.

Shit of the sea: Imported seafood shipments rejected by US FDA for ‘unsafe levels of filth and bacteria”

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Douglas Powell

A new USDA analysis of the Food and Drug Administration’s import refusals report reveals that the FDA rejected tens of thousands of imported seafood shipments because they were unfit for human consumption.

From 2005 to 2013, nearly 18,000 shipments were refused entry into the United States for containing unsafe levels of “filth,” veterinary drug residues and Salmonella, which is responsible for thousand hospitalizations per year and hundreds of deaths. “Filth” is a catchall term used to describe anything that shouldn’t be in food—like rat feces, parasites, illegal antibiotics and glass shards.

The USDA summarized their findings by saying, “The safety of imported seafood clearly continues to be of significant concern, based on the number of shipments refused by FDA.”

Currently, the majority of all food refusals are seafood products; while the FDA is responsible for ensuring the safety of any food imported from foreign countries, they only have the manpower to inspect less than 1 percent of the 1.2 billion pounds of shrimp entering into the country each year.

The American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA), a group representing the US Gulf and Southeast Atlantic Coast shrimp fishing industry, has expressed great concern over the findings. Dr. David Veal, the President of ASPA, was quoted as saying, “This issue goes beyond the FDA; I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect food suppliers to take some responsibility for the health and safety of their products.” While there are a few more FDA inspectors now than a couple years ago, the ratio of shipments to inspectors is still impossibly high. Veal continued, “We hope shrimp exporters will take a more proactive role in assuring that suppliers adhere to laws designed to protect the people who buy their products.”

100 sickened: Fancy food ain’t safe food, Spain edition, with Vibrio in shrimp

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Douglas Powell

We describe an outbreak of seafood-associated Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Galicia, Spain in on 18th of August 2012 affecting 100 of the 114 passengers travelling on a food banquet cruise boat. Epidemiological information from 65 people was available from follow-on interviews, of which 51 cases showed symptoms of illness.

The food items identified through the questionnaires as the most probable source of the infections was shrimp. This product was unique in showing a statistically significant and the highest OR with a value of 7.59 (1.52–37.71).

All the nine strains isolated from stool samples were identified as V. parahaemolyticus, seven were positive for both virulence markers tdh and trh, a single strain was positive for trh only and the remaining strain tested negative for both trh and tdh.

This is the largest foodborne Vibrio outbreak reported in Europe linked to domestically processed seafood. Moreover, this is the first instance of strains possessing both tdh+ and trh+ being implicated in an outbreak in Europe and that a combination of strains represent several pathogenicity groups and belonging to different genetic variants were isolated from a single outbreak.

Clinical isolates were associated with a novel genetic variant of V. parahaemolyticus never detected before in Europe.
Further analyses demonstrated that the outbreak isolates showed indistinguishable genetic profiles with hyper-virulent strains from the Pacific Northwest, USA, suggesting a recent transcontinental spread of these strains.

Epidemiological investigation of a foodborne outbreak in Spain associated with U.S. West Coast genotypes of Vibrio parahaemolyticus

http://7thspace.com/headlines/523567/epidemiological_investigation_of_a_foodborne_outbreak_in_spain_associated_with_us_west_coast_genotypes_of_vibrio_parahaemolyticus_.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+7thspaceNews+(7thSpace+Interactive+-+News+%26+Headlines)

Food fraud: Gel-injected shrimp in China edition

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Douglas Powell

The Epoch Times reports that Ms. Yang in the southern China port city of Guangzhou bought six giant tiger prawns for $66 in October—she was happy with the purchase, until she found gel inside the heads of the prawns. The purchase would have been cheaper without the presence of the unwanted compound.

Such gel, the presence of which is not typically detectable upon superficial inspection, is injected some time between when the shrimp are caught and when they’re sold, in order to add weight and thus reap a greater profit. Shrimp sold live have not been injected, because the injection would kill the shrimp.

China is the third largest exporter of seafood to the United States, and it also exports significant amounts of shrimp and catfish, representing 2 of the 10 most consumed seafood products in the country. Nearly $150 million worth of shrimp were imported from China between January and October 2015, according to data by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The problem has persisted for over a decade, despite new cases regularly reported in the press. Some of the first well-publicized cases of the dreaded gel-injected shrimp appeared in 2005, the same year in which the municipal government of Tianjin launched a strike-hard campaign against shrimp injectors. The report, which referred to the campaign gave no details about how many were arrested, or whether the shrimp adulteration rings were broken.

In some of the cases that have been examined—not always an easy task in China—the gelatin found in the shrimp was the innocuous, edible kind. It is usually extracted from animal skins and bones, and composed of collagen. But because the operation is illegal and unsupervised, there is no telling whether the next gel used will be industrial.

Global supermarkets selling shrimp peeled by slaves

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Douglas Powell

An investigation by Associated Press has revealed that:

Every morning at 2 a.m., they heard a kick on the door and a threat: Get up or get beaten. For the next 16 hours, No. 31 and his wife stood in the factory that owned them with their aching hands in ice water. They ripped the guts, heads, tails and shells off shrimp bound for overseas markets, including grocery stores and all-you-can-eat buffets across the United States.

After being sold to the Gig Peeling Factory, they were at the mercy of their Thai bosses, trapped with nearly 100 other Burmese migrants. Children worked alongside them, including a girl so tiny she had to stand on a stool to reach the peeling table. Some had been there for months, even years, getting little or no pay. Always, someone was watching.

No names were ever used, only numbers given by their boss — Tin Nyo Win was No. 31.

Pervasive human trafficking has helped turn Thailand into one of the world’s biggest shrimp providers. Despite repeated promises by businesses and government to clean up the country’s $7 billion seafood export industry, an Associated Press investigation has found shrimp peeled by modern-day slaves is reaching the U.S., Europe and Asia.

The problem is fueled by corruption and complicity among police and authorities. Arrests and prosecutions are rare. Raids can end up sending migrants without proper paperwork to jail, while owners go unpunished.

More than 2,000 trapped fishermen have been freed this year as a result of an ongoing Associated Press investigative series into slavery in the Thai seafood industry. The reports also have led to a dozen arrests, millions of dollars’ worth of seizures and proposals for new federal laws.

Hundreds of shrimp peeling sheds are hidden in plain sight on residential streets or behind walls with no signs in Samut Sakhon, a port town an hour outside Bangkok. The AP found one factory that was enslaving dozens of workers, and runaway migrants led rights groups to the Gig shed and a third facility. All three sheds held 50 to 100 people each, many locked inside.

As Tin Nyo Win soon found out for himself, there’s no easy escape. One woman had been working at Gig for eight years. Another man ended up peeling shrimp there after breaking free from an equally brutal factory.

“I was shocked after working there a while, and I realized there was no way out,” said Tin Nyo Win, 22, who has a baby face and teeth stained red from chewing betel nut.

“I told my wife, ‘We’re in real trouble. If something ends up going wrong, we’re going to die.'”

Last month, AP journalists followed and filmed trucks loaded with freshly peeled shrimp from the Gig shed to major Thai exporting companies and then, using U.S. customs records and Thai industry reports, tracked it globally. They also traced similar connections from another factory raided six months earlier, and interviewed more than two dozen workers from both sites.

U.S. customs records show the shrimp made its way into the supply chains of major U.S. food stores and retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger, Whole Foods, Dollar General and Petco, along with restaurants such as Red Lobster and Olive Garden.

It also entered the supply chains of some of America’s best-known seafood brands and pet foods, including Chicken of the Sea and Fancy Feast, which are sold in grocery stores from Safeway and Schnucks to Piggly Wiggly and Albertsons. AP reporters went to supermarkets in all 50 states and found shrimp products from supply chains tainted with forced labor.

European and Asian import and export records are confidential, but the Thai companies receiving shrimp tracked by the AP all say they ship to Europe and Asia as well.

The businesses that responded condemned the practices that lead to these conditions. Many said they were launching investigations when told their supply chains were linked to people held against their will in sheds like the Gig factory, which sat behind a gate off a busy street, between railroad tracks and a river.

Inside the large warehouse, toilets overflowed with feces, and the putrid smell of raw sewage wafted from an open gutter just outside the work area. Young children ran barefoot through suffocating dorm rooms. Entire families labored side-by-side at rows of stainless steel counters piled high with tubs of shrimp.

And much, much more.

Mycobacterium marinum cluster linked to handling shrimp in Canada

Posted on July 26, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Health officials with the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit (HKPR) continues their investigation into a cluster of six cases of an unusual skin infection that appears to be associated with handling raw shrimp in the Campbellford area.

Preliminary lab reports suggest the infections are caused by the slow growing bacterium, Mycobacterium marinum.

The HKPR District Health Unit has investigated five of six cases of the infection with people from the Campbellford area, and all seem to be associated with handling shrimp grown at a local shrimp farm.

Health officials did not name the shrimp farm in question.

Five of family ill after eating at Qatar outlet

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Five members of a family took ill after eating food from a restaurant in Al Aziziya suburb of Doha and are recuperating in hospital.

They were rushed for emergency care after they began vomiting and complained of stomach upset and diarrhea.

Medical reports confirmed that they had fallen sick after eating spoilt food.
Al Sharq reported yesterday that they had eaten fish, shrimps and Egyptian rice after which they began vomiting.

The daily quoted some people as saying that they were concerned as food poisoning incidents were on the rise.

5 sick; link to shrimp at Rome restaurant?

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Douglas Powell

Our Italian food safety friend sends along a report that two children were sickened with Salmonella after a Japanese-style dinner in Rome.

Doctors told their parents that the children might have died if they were younger.

An 11-year-old boy and his 14-year-old cousin were admitted to the Bambin Gesù hospital in Rome on July 8th for emergency care. It was probably caused by a contaminated shrimp sandwich.

The children were returning home a night earlier after dining with their families in a Japanese-Chinese restaurant, located near Tor Marancia. The restaurant came under intensive scrutiny by the health authorities because the same evening, Saturday July the 7th, three other adult diners were infected by the bacteria: the mother of the 11-year-old boy and two young women, who were admitted to the Rome’s Spallanzani hospital. According to the doctors, all contracted Salmonella D, or Salmonella Thipy (sic).

The mother of the 11-year-old was quoted as saying, "The morning of the 8th at about 6 my son woke up with stomach pains and diarrhea. I phoned my sister and she told me that his son was also ill, that he was vomiting. We waited a while, while we were over the phone but the situation worsened. My son began to vomit while my nephew began to have diarrhea. Following the twentieth loose stool within a few hours my son started to feel cold, the fever was rising. His cousin had temperature over 39. We ran to the emergency room. We might have had a tragedy. It is a shame that this restaurant, after what happened, is still open. "

Ruminations on raw: seafood is cooked in this house

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Douglas Powell

Shopping for food is competitive sport in Brisbane.

There are bargains to be had, but limited by geography – I’m on a bicycle – time and seasonality.

And the prices change almost daily for no apparent reason other than supply and demand.

The majority of Australians hate the megalomart duopoly of Coles and Woolworths but within a 2-mile radius, I can choose amongst five fruit and veg places, three butchers, three bakeries, the ubiquitous Coles and Woolworths, and my favorite, the Dutton Park Fish Market.

Dutton Park is a suburb adjacent to the University of Queensland and the fish market is literally a non-descript hole in the wall down and around from a semi-popular restaurant on the way to the uni. They don’t advertise because they have trouble meeting demand. But they do send e-mails saying what’s in and what’s on special.

That gets back to the competitive sport of shopping.

Two days ago the price of oysters went from $15 a dozen to $20 for two dozen. I told Amy we were having oysters, and she invited over a colleague for dinner last night.

We went through 48 oysters, two blue swimmer crabs and some homemade Napoletana leek pizza.

As a man of large appetites, I wanted more. So after early morning swimming lessons for the daughter, Sorenne and I biked off again to visit with Paul the fishmonger (Sorenne likes the live mud crabs, and the fishheads).

Saturday lunch was more oysters, more blue swimmers, and some Hervey Bay scallops, served with a grated, marinated carrot and beet salad.

All this is on my mind because of the recent death of a South Bend, Indiana, man from vibrio after eating raw frozen shrimp.

Health officials interviewed the man’s wife and determined that he had eaten shrimp from a 16-ounce bag of frozen, raw, peeled and cleaned shrimp sold under the Harvest of the Sea brand. Testing on a second bag of the same brand of shrimp found in the man’s freezer determined that it contained the bacteria afflicting the man.

Felger said that bag of shrimp came from a Martin’s Super Markets store in South Bend. The supermarket chain voluntarily pulled the shrimp from its freezers in during the weekend of Feb. 17-18 after learning that it could possibly be contaminated. But the store didn’t issue a voluntary recall to customers until March 3 because they didn’t have all of the information they needed until then, the company’s advertising manager, Dave Mayfield, told WSBT.

He said that once they got the facts, they issued the recall.

Test results confirming the bacteria were in the shrimp were received last Friday, and the next day Martin’s Supermarket emailed its recall notice to South Bend-area media.

Felger said he believes Martin’s Super Markets acted appropriately by pulling the product once they were notified.

I buy the crabs cooked. The oysters and scallops I grill for about 90 seconds, along with a (small) dollop of garlic butter loaded with homegrown basil and rosemary, and a dab of hot sauce. I temped a scallop today because I’d never grilled fresh ones before – 140F. Probably a bit high but tasted great.

Paul can talk lovingly about his product, I can write food porn about the preparation, but neither of us – nor anyone else – knows which raw seafood might be carrying a dangerous bacterium, virus or parasite. I pay attention to cross-contamination. And I cook seafood, verified using a tip-sensitive digital thermometer.

Flying insects are ‘shrimps of the sky’ will be on EU menus

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Douglas Powell

European Union types in Brussels believe that insects could be a vital source of nutrition that will not only solve food shortages but also help save the environment, so they have launched a €3 million ($3.99 million) project to promote the eating of insects.

Proponents of entomophagy – insect eating – argue that bugs are a low-cholesterol, low-fat, protein-rich food source. According to one study, small grasshoppers offer 20 per cent protein and just 6 per cent fat, to lean ground beef’s 24 per cent protein and 18 per cent fat.

Crickets are also said to be high in calcium, termites rich in iron, and a helping of giant silkworm moth larvae apparently provides all the daily copper and riboflavin requirements.

The European Commission is offering the money to the research institute with the best proposal for investigating ”insects as novel sources of proteins”. It wants research into quality and safety, including potential allergic reactions and the sort of proteins consumed.

Professor Marcel Dicke, leading a team at Wageningen University, in the Netherlands, which is applying for the research grant, said: ”By 2020, you will be buying insects in supermarkets. We will be amazed that in 2011 people didn’t think it was going to happen.

He said bugs were biologically similar to shellfish and that flying insects should be regarded as ”shrimps of the sky.”

Todd Dalton, of Edible, which supplies insects for human consumption to Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason, said: ”The EU is wasting taxpayers’ money. People aren’t suddenly going to start eating insects because the EU is spending money researching. It would be great if they did, but our eating habits won’t change until our stigma about consuming insects is removed.”

barfblog

safe food from farm to fork

Tag Archives: shrimp