SEAFOODNEWS.COM [China Daily/Seafood.com] — September 22, 2014 — The combination of news that the Chinese Government halted imports of whole Norwegian salmon due to concerns about the ISA virus, and the news of the continuing spread of Ebola in three African countries, led to a spate of rumors in China last week that Norwegian salmon had 'Ebola', something that is impossible.
Salmon eaters in china have been frightened by titles of the popular articles in the social media like Weibo and Wechat as “China has stopped the import of a whole Norwegian salmon”, “People are likely to get Ebola from eating salmon” and “Salmon carry with them the Ebola virus”.
The reporter has interviewed the relevant importers and the staff from the markets of aquatic products, all of whom have said that salmon has nothing to do with Ebola.
And Norwegian Department of Marine Resources has also published a statement which reads that the Norwegian salmon are safe for consumers to enjoy.
It turns out the rumor originated owing to sensational reporters who published an article in an online newspaper called 'The Paper' with the headline 'The “Ebola” disease among the fish has threatened aquaculture and whole Norwegian salmon is forbidden to enter the Chinese market'. They were calling ISA the "Ebola Disease" among salmon.
Subsequently the article was picked up and repeated without the quotations around 'Ebola'.
It is a custom in Guangzhou to eat the raw fish and the imported salmon is the favourite of many local consumers. However, many salmon eaters got worried by the widespread news on the internet that salmon have the Ebola virus. Some eaters have posed such comments about the news as “So scary? ”, “I am so scared that I almost pee myself” and “Never eat salmon again”.
The reporter has tried to trace this rumor and found that the first connection between salmon and Ebola was established in an article published in The Paper. Then some websites, even the authoritative ones, have removed the quotation mark of the word “Ebola” while forwarding the news. Some articles in Weibo and Wechat have even changed the title to “Eating salmon leads to Ebola” or “Salmon also has Ebola virus”.
But after reading the full article, some netizens have found that they were cheated by the titles. The netizens point out that it is misguided to “establish the direct connection between salmon and Ebola” or to suggest that "the infectious salmon anemia (ISA) is equal to the frightening Ebola” and some authors were even so unethical to spread the rumor that “Eating salmon leads to Ebola”.
Some in the Chinese industry think that there was a deliberate effort to spread this rumor on the part of some connnected to domestic salmon producers.
The Norwegian Department of Marine Resources has released an statement in the Mainland China and Hong Kong about Chinese government’s not allowing the import of a whole salmon from Norway. The statement explains that this is owing to the government’s concern that some fish diseases may take a toll on China’s aquaculture rather than the worry about the food safety or the salmon’s bad influence on the eaters’ health.
In the statement, there is a solemn notice from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. On the one hand, it emphasizes that Norwegian salmon are safe to eat and there is no fish disease found which is relevant to human diseases. All the fish diseases like ISA will not infect human or have a bad effect on the human health.
On the other hand, it also reads that Norway only exports the healthy fish products rather than the fish with any disease. In addition, the statement also mentions that the Norwegian regulations concerning food safety comply with the requirement of the EU. In addition to the export companies’ examining their own salmon, the government also sampled 11,500 salmon last year and no salmon has been found to contain chemicals or pollutants. And according to the international regulations, any warning against the Norwegian salmon’s quality or food safety should be reported to the Norwegian government and the International organization.
In fact, China importers said last week they are still allowed to import a whole salmon at present.
When the reporter interviewed salmon importers and distributors for this article concerning the news named “Salmon has Ebola virus” the importers and distributors replied that they had not received any notice about forbidding the import of a whole Norwegian salmon and neither had the staff working in different ports. And they are still handling the orders of the whole Norwegian salmon as usual.
The reporter has also interviewed a store owner of aquatic products from Huangsha aquatic product trading market. And she told the reporter that many regular customers and friends had asked her about the safety of Norwegian salmon through telephone, text or Wehcat during the past few days. So yesterday she was busy with forwarding the official statement from the Norwegian government. She also inquired from her relative whose job was exporting salmon in Norway and learnt that it was still permitted to import a whole salmon.
“The imported salmon has nothing to do with Ebola. This is only a rumor! When the eaters come to Huangsha tomorrow, they can still buy a whole Norwegian salmon”, said the owner. Some distributors of the imported salmon also suspects if the spreading of this rumor has some kind of connection with the industry of domestic salmon, which are seen as less than Norwegian salmon in quality, safety and texture.
This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.