Imported Fish with Banned Chemicals Reaching U.S. Consumers

Tests show some mislabeled seafood tainted with carcinogens

By Laurie Udesky, 8:00 am, July 5, 2011

In March 2010, a team of reporters from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists set out to document the plundering of one of the ocean’s most awe-inspiring creatures — the giant Eastern Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. Favored for its soft red flesh, bluefin tuna is prized by sushi lovers around the world. For seven months, ICIJ deployed 12 journalists to investigate the bluefin trade, a trail that led from major fishing fleets and tuna ranches in the Mediterranean and North Africa, through ministry offices, to some of the world’s largest buyers in Japan. ICIJ’s team uncovered a supply chain that at every step was riddled with fraud, negligence, and criminal misconduct.

Tons of imported fish laced with chemicals banned from the U.S. food supply, including carcinogens, are routinely showing up in this country and, state officials say, winding up on American dinner plates.

Within the last two months, three American fish importers pleaded guilty in Mobile, Ala., to federal felony charges of mislabeling fish and seafood. Their illegal haul included more than 120,000 pounds of imported fish, brought in to Mobile and Seattle, that tested positive for the suspected human carcinogen malachite green and for another antibiotic that U.S. authorities also prohibit for use on fish that people consume.