Snakehead report release announcement, upstream and downstream emphasize unchanged original intention
(Editor's note, March 2017 report: After the mullet news was published in January, there was a great deal of discussion and response from all sectors. In March 2017, News & Market again launched "The Critical Moment for Mullet Has Arrived! How Do You Want Taiwan to Farm Mullet?", interviewing more people from industry, government and academia, compiling eight major controversies and eight important viewpoints, and inviting everyone to vote and express their opinions. Please click here.)
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This week News & Market published two news articles on farming mullet with estrogen, sparking discussion across all sectors. Some commentators ask: News & Market is an agricultural media outlet, so why is it dragging farmers down? Have we changed? Even if estrogen is illegal, it metabolizes in the fish body, so why cause panic? Also, why publish the news during the peak sales season for mullet roe? Is it a malicious attack on the mullet industry? In addition, some commentators point out that some manufacturers have produced test reports showing no artificial estrogen residue, so is News & Market's reporting unfounded?
What News & Market has strived for since its founding is to make environmentally friendly agriculture and fisheries more prosperous, to promote mutual understanding between producers and consumers, so that farmers live better, consumers feel more secure, and the environment can be sustainable. This is the original aspiration with which we were founded, and it has not changed to this day. Below is our explanation, for the reference of all sectors.
(1) How did we conduct our investigation?
This year we discovered that using "sex-change feed with added estrogen" to farm mullet is a secret that everyone in the industry knows. However, regulations clearly stipulate that estrogen must not be used, which not only leaves fishermen mired in an illegal situation for the long term but also provides no protection for consumers.
We first confirmed with officials from the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine and experts from the Taiwan Agricultural Chemicals and Toxic Substances Research Institute that adding estrogen to feed is indeed illegal. We also visited fishermen at mullet farming sites and confirmed that fishermen feed sex-change feed during the critical growth period, and they all know this is not permitted by law, but because it is already a widespread technique in the industry, the fishermen we interviewed did not conceal it. Even the "Mullet Hall" on the Council of Agriculture's official website directly states that mullet farming involves feeding six months of estrogen feed, making 95% of mullet become female fish.
We then visited scholars and experts at National Taiwan Ocean University, the Taiwan Fisheries Research Institute, National Chiayi University, and the Institute of Fisheries Science at National Taiwan University, including Teacher Shen, who once participated in the technology's research and development. The experts all clearly stated that estrogen must not be used in feed, that academia is trying to develop better technology, and they also suggested that the metabolism of estrogen in the fish body should be monitored more carefully, so that perhaps a safety assessment model could be established to free the public from further doubt.
At the same time, the experts also said that as for what the current formula of sex-change feed actually is, since feed mills have never disclosed the ingredients, it is a trade secret of the operators and difficult to know, and they suggested that the government should strengthen source management. These unknowns are where the risk lies.
(2) Does mullet retain artificially added estrogen in its body?
In both reports we clearly cited expert statements: if sex-change feed is applied only for a few months during the critical growth period of mullet, and the fish are harvested only one to two years after use, then by maturity it should already have been fully metabolized, so the possibility of residue is not high, and the public need not panic. The articles contain no wording whatsoever alleging that mullet retains excessive estrogen, or attempting to spread rumors or smear the industry.
But the use of drugs, whether in humans or animals, should follow rigorous regulations, including the application process and subsequent monitoring, and estrogen is no exception. Medicine can cure disease, and it can also cause disease. The benefits and harms of estrogen to human health are full of controversy in medicine. Estrogen can affect natural ecosystems through discharged water, and this is an even more significant environmental issue.
(3) The focus of our reporting has always been to state the facts:
The use of estrogen in feed is currently not compliant with regulations, feed ingredients are not transparent, and source management must be strengthened. We also asked the Fisheries Agency: is it possible to establish a set of rigorous management measures and assessment standards to legalize the use of estrogen in feed? The answer we received was: since the public has doubts, it is currently not being considered. The Fisheries Agency's statements, from initially vague to clearly stated, are also presented in both reports.
(4) Is there any interest group behind us instigating us to smear the mullet industry?
Everything News & Market does is only in the hope of making Taiwan's agriculture and fisheries industry better. News & Market swears to heaven that it will absolutely never distort reporting for any selfish motive or private gain. But we understand that this wave of reporting has caused a temporary impact on the mullet industry. However, if the problem continues to be ignored, the industry will remain stuck here and unable to move forward. Therefore we chose to publish the reports, and we accept all criticism and angry accusations, hoping that what this storm triggers will be more positive discussion, heading toward a better mullet industry.
News & Market's original aspiration remains unchanged; time will prove everything.