Saving Seafood

Is Mississippi losing the catfish wars? Flood of fish imports continues despite USDA oversight

June 22, 2021 — Mississippi farmers are losing the catfish wars against their foreign competitors with the very weapon they saw as their salvation.

The domestic catfish industry along with representatives like the late U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi lobbied to move oversight of catfish processing from the Food and Drug Administration to the U.S. Department of Agriculture five years ago with the expectation the USDA’s stricter eye would limit the foreign imports that had decimated domestic production throughout the Mississippi Delta.

Instead, imports of siluriformes– the larger category of catfish and catfish-like fish sometimes referred to by their family name “pangasius”– have only increased since the switch to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service in 2016. Meanwhile, domestic prices and production, mainly in Mississippi and other Southern states, have continued to decline.

Almost 65,000 additional tons of catfish were imported in 2019 than in 2015 before the FSIS took over according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service.

The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce lists recent processing volumes at 5 million pounds per month less than in 2015 during FDA oversight. As domestic prices have declined, the average value of imports has grown with the added USDA label.

Read the full story at Magnolia State Live

Fraudulent Fish Foiled by Cancer-Catching Pen

May 18, 2021 — When chemistry graduate student Abby Gatmaitan first visited the University of Texas at Austin on a recruiting tour, she learned about the MasSpec Pen—a handheld device that scientists there were developing to diagnose tumors on contact. “I knew that was where I wanted to do my research,” she says. Shortly after joining the lab, she realized that if the pen could categorize human tissue, it would probably also work on other animals.

Gatmaitan had a very specific problem in mind, and her hunch paid off. Her research, published this spring in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, showed that touching the tip of the “pen” to a sample of raw meat or fish could correctly identify the species it came from. The device was tested on five samples and took less than 15 seconds for each of them. Roughly the length of a typical ink pen, the tool provided answers about 720 times faster than a leading meat-evaluating technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing—and it was much easier to use. Gatmaitan says it could help scientists tackle a global conservation issue: mislabeled seafood.

Seafood fraud is not just a concern for the restaurant diner who orders expensive, wild-caught red snapper, only to wind up with a plate of mercury-laden tilefish. Such deception also threatens the environment. Mislabeled fishes often come from poorly managed fisheries that can harm local ecosystems. Sometimes a fish is passed off as the wrong species or is falsely claimed to have been caught in a different geographical area in order to evade conservation laws or sell a catch for more money than its market value.

Read the full story at Scientific American

A decade after Fukushima nuclear disaster, Alaska expands seafood monitoring

April 21, 2021 — State environmental regulators announced Monday they’re expanding radiation testing of commercially harvested Alaska seafood to include crab using a Gamma radiation detector at a state laboratory in Anchorage. That’s thanks to continued federal funding from the Food and Drug Administration.

A devastating earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Japan in 2011 killed tens of thousands and crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant which released radioactive material into the air and ocean.

That led to global concern about the safety of Pacific seafood. Alaska began screening fish samples in 2014. It now routinely tests prime export products including Bristol Bay salmon and Bering Sea pollock to reassure consumers that Alaska seafood is safe.

“We have not detected any elevated levels that are deemed harmful for consumption or for the health of the animal,” Bob Gerlach told CoastAlaska.

He’s the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s chief veterinarian and runs Alaska’s seafood monitoring program. He says the agency is now finalizing plans to begin testing several species of crab to capture more of the complex marine food web.

Read the full story at KCAW

Advocacy groups want FDA, not USDA, to regulate genetically engineered animals

April 12, 2021 — A wide-ranging collection of advocacy groups have sent letters to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and U.S. Department of Agriculture, urging the leadersof the federal agencies to maintain regulatory authority over genetically engineered food animals within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The push for FDA control is in response to a Trump administration proposal that sought to withdraw most of the FDA’s regulatory authority over genetically engineered animals, including fish, and transfer that authority to USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Expert cautions against participating in voluntary FDA records requests

March 25, 2021 — U.S. imports expert and FDAimports.com Founder and CEO Benjamin England said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may try new tactics related to records and documentation in place of actual inspections in order to regulate the seafood industry.

Speaking at a panel during Seafood Expo North America Reconnect, England said he’s seen increased activity from the FDA on records requests. Key to that, he said, is the FDA’s attempts to continue to conduct inspection activity during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Vaccination Resources for Commercial Fishermen

March 24, 2021 — The following was released by the Fishing Partnership Support Services:

Make a Plan to Get Vaccinated!

COVID-19 is frightening – especially for commercial fishermen who don’t receive paid sick time. The economic costs of catching the virus can be greater than the physical toll of becoming ill. Effective March 22nd, commercial fishermen became eligible to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment. Make a plan of action to protect yourself and your loved ones. Vaccines are safe and effective, free of cost regardless of your insurance status, and have been approved for emergency use authorization (EUA) by the FDA.

Vaccination Resources On Our Website:

  • How to sign up and/or preregister for the vaccine.
  • Updates on your eligibility status for the vaccine.
  • Myths versus Facts Primer.
  • FAQs about the vaccine.
  • What to expect after your shot.
  • Videos of Navigators sharing their vaccine story.
  • Resources for coping with COVID-19 vaccine anxiety.
  • Where to find COVID-19 testing near you.

Together we can end this pandemic. Need help interpreting vaccination resources? Contact a Fishing Partnership Navigator 888.282.8816

FDA not meeting goals, following procedure on seafood warning letters, according to GAO report

March 19, 2021 — A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released on 19 March found that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been failing to follow its own procedures or meet key goals regarding warning letters sent to seafood companies violating food safety regulations.

The report, which came with a GAO recommendation that the FDA monitor whether it is following procedures and meeting goals for its warning letters, found that out of 125 warning letters sent for significant inspection violations, just 14 were properly followed up on. The FDA’s own goal for all warning letters requires follow-up inspections within six months to ensure violations have been corrected – a goal the administration rarely meets.

“For the letters that FDA sent from 2014 to early 2019, FDA didn’t consistently follow key procedures or meet key goals,” the GAO said in a press release.

The GAO analyzed 167 imported seafood warning letters issued by the FDA from 1 January, 2014, through 11 March, 2019, finding that for those letters the FDA “did not consistently follow key procedures or meet key goals for its warning letter process.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

National Fisheries Institute and cell-based seafood makers ask FDA for labeling guidelines

March 10, 2021 — The Alliance for Meat Poultry and Seafood Innovation (AMPS Innovation), a coalition representing makers of cell-cultured protein products, and the US seafood trade association the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) jointly called on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to support requirements for labeling these new products descriptively, accurately and consistently regarding what the products actually are and how they are made.

Based on research by Rutgers professor William Hallman, NFI and AMPS Innovation on Monday urged the FDA to adopt the use of the term “cell-cultured” to support uniform labeling of the products.

The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the FDA are working together to ensure the safety and labeling of cell-cultured meat, poultry, and seafood products.

FSIS will have oversight of the labeling of cell-cultured meat and poultry, as it does for all meat and poultry sold in the United States, while FDA will oversee the labeling of cell-cultured seafood, as it does for most seafood sold in the United States.

Read the full story at IntraFish

Alliance for Meat, Poultry, Seafood Innovation & NFI Comment on Cell Cultured Labeling

March 8, 2021 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:

Today, the Alliance for Meat, Poultry and Seafood Innovation (AMPS Innovation), an industry coalition representing the makers of cell-cultured meat, poultry and seafood products, and the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), a trade association that represents companies throughout the seafood production supply chain, jointly submitted comments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in response to the agency’s Labeling of Foods Comprised of or Containing Cultured Seafood Cells Request for Information. The letter calls on the agency to support a framework that labels these new products descriptively, accurately, and consistently to represent what the products actually are, how they are made, and ensure robust consumer transparency.

Accordingly, the two groups believe that labeling of seafood products produced using cell-cultured technology should be thoughtfully based on the following key criteria:

  • Truthful, non-misleading, descriptive, and clear, communicating to the consumer what the product is and how it is produced, in line with FDA’s regulatory requirements,
  • Signal potential allergenicity and nutrition for consumer safety and transparency,
  • Non-disparaging to either cell-cultured or conventional seafood products, and
  • Differentiated from conventionally produced wild or farmed seafood products through a qualifier that modifies the conventional name of the product.

Based on peer-reviewed research carried out by Rutgers professor Dr. William Hallman, NFI and the super-majority of AMPS Innovation, including all of the cell-cultured seafood companies, urge the FDA to adopt and memorialize the sole use of the term “cell-cultured” to support uniform labeling within the seafood category.

Full text of the letter can be accessed here.

Under a joint framework for regulation of cell-cultured meat, poultry and seafood products, which was agreed to by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the FDA in March 2019, the two agencies will work together to ensure the safety and labeling of cell-cultured meat, poultry, and seafood products.

Among other provisions of the framework, FSIS will have oversight of the labeling of cell-cultured meat and poultry, as it does for all meat and poultry sold in the United States, while FDA will oversee the labeling of cell-cultured seafood, as it does for most seafood sold in the United States. In a public presentation last summer, the agencies committed to joint principles for product labeling and labeling claims across cell-cultured meat, poultry and seafood products.

This is the second instance in which AMPS Innovation has partnered with an organization representing the conventional food and agriculture industry to align on labeling-related policies. In October 2020 AMPS Innovation and the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) sent a letter to FSIS calling for the agency to solicit input on what labeling for cell-cultured meat and poultry products should look like through an Advance Notice of Public Rulemaking.

About the Alliance for Meat, Poultry & Seafood Innovation
The Alliance for Meat, Poultry & Seafood Innovation is working to advance new methods of producing real, high-quality, safe meat, poultry and seafood products directly from cells, which, in partnership with the broader agricultural community, will help meet the demands of feeding a growing global population. AMPS Innovation advocates for our industry through sharing our collective expertise, providing insight into our innovation, and committing to safety and transparency with all stakeholders, including industry partners, policymakers, advocates and consumers. To learn more about the Alliance for Meat, Poultry & Seafood Innovation, visit www.ampsinnovation.org.

About the National Fisheries Institute
The National Fisheries Institute is a non-profit organization dedicated to education about seafood safety, sustainability, and nutrition. NFI and its members are committed to sustainable management of our oceans and being stewards of our environment by endorsing the United Nations Principles for Responsible Fisheries. Our investment in our oceans today will provide our children and future generations the health benefits of a plentiful supply of fish and seafood tomorrow. From responsible aquaculture, to a marketplace supporting free trade, to ensuring the media and consumers have the facts about the health benefits of fish and shellfish, NFI and its members support and promote sound public policy based on ground truth science. Learn more at www.aboutseafood.com.