Fish Fed Tainted Food Test Negative for Melamine

FDA continues to detain vegetable protein shipments from China, officials say.

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
Thursday, May 17, 2007; 12:00 AM

Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

THURSDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- Fish fed melamine-contaminated meal have all tested negative for the compound, U.S. health officials said Thursday.

"Testing of fish conducted on Kona Blue, the Hawaiian fish farm, has proved negative for melamine," Dr. David Acheson, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's assistant commissioner for food protection, said in an afternoon teleconference. "The company has resumed harvesting its fish," he added.

In addition, tests of fish from the American Gold fish farm in Washington state has also proved negative for melamine, Acheson said.

Melamine, a chemical typically found in fire retardants and plastics, was the cause of the massive pet food recall that began in March. Officials believe that companies in China added the compound to wheat and rice products to falsely inflate their protein content. Those products were later exported and mixed in with pet food, as well as livestock and fish feed, in the United States.

As to fish in the 196 fish hatcheries potentially exposed to contaminated feed, Acheson said that all of the tainted fish meal had already been consumed. "With the fact that they are tiny fish, we believe there is no public health concern associated with these fish," he said. "These fish will eventually be released into public waters," he added.

These developments come on the heels of Tuesday's announcement that all the remaining hogs that ate melamine-tainted pet food have been released for processing and sale after testing revealed that their meat is safe to eat.

Also, last week, all chickens that were being held were released to market, except for 80,000 breeder birds still being held in Indiana.

According Acheson, the FDA is also holding 46 shipments of vegetable protein products from China. "To date, none of the importers have proven that the shipments are melamine-free, so these products remain in detention," he said. "Before any of these shipments are released, FDA will review the analytical reports."

As part of the government's effort to get a handle on contaminated vegetable protein coming into the country, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is testing all imported wheat and corn gluten and other products being imported from any country.