China-imported yellow croaker again tests positive for banned drug malachite green in January; 4,000 metric tons imported last year, six batches failed

With the Lunar New Year approaching, yellow croaker is indispensable for the holiday feast. However, during border inspection, the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare found that chilled yellow croaker imported from the mainland contained excessive levels of the veterinary drug metabolite leucomalachite green, posing a potential cancer risk. Hsiao Hui-wen, a technical specialist at the FDA's Northern Regional Management Center, said the batch of yellow croaker was returned or destroyed on the spot and did not enter the domestic market. The health bureau will also continue to inspect other batches of imported yellow croaker from the same importer that were not sampled.

Ran Fan-hua, a professor in the Department of Aquaculture at National Taiwan Ocean University, explained that malachite green is basically an internationally recognized banned drug. If malachite green is used, it produces leucomalachite green residue in the fish body, and it is impossible to tell by the naked eye whether it has been used. "It is very cheap and effective, and can treat external parasites on fish, but it can cause cancer in humans." Since it is banned, why is leucomalachite green still detected in Chinese yellow croaker? "Fish ponds in China are eutrophic, making fish more susceptible to parasites, and malachite green is cheap and effective, so the frequency of use is relatively higher."

Smuggled yellow croaker decreases; import controls make it safe

In the past, yellow croaker smuggling from China was serious, adding another layer of food safety risk to yellow croaker on the market. However, Hsu Cheng-yu, general manager of Upwelling Ocean, said that now the vast majority of yellow croaker is imported from China, and smuggling has decreased substantially. "It's not that there is no smuggling at all, but it has dropped a lot. In the past, because there were no statistical records at all, we could only estimate from wholesale market sales, and roughly 10,000 metric tons of yellow croaker came in from China."

Why did the smuggling situation suddenly improve? Hsu explained that it should be because people are paying more and more attention to smuggled yellow croaker, making it a relatively key target in enforcement. "As long as a fishing boat is caught carrying yellow croaker, it's smuggling, because Taiwan simply cannot catch yellow croaker. There may still be a small number of boats smuggling yellow croaker now, but it doesn't mean much and the risk is too high."