Beware of Chinese Tilapia
by Anonymous
I had read several articles on Google defending the eating of tilapia that said to avoid the fish that came from China. "Small farms, high demands and lax oversight are inspiring fish farmers in China and Southeast Asia to feed their fish, especially tilapia, with animal feces. ... Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia said. "In some places, like Thailand for example, they will just put the chickens over the pond and they just poop right in the pond." Asked to estimate what percentage of Chinese tilapia are raised using animal feces as food, Doyle said "I'd say roughly 50 percent."
I remembered that I purchased Tilapia from WalMart last week. I had just returned home from buying Publix & Albertson's 4-day special of 4 bags of frozen tilapia for the price of one. I read the label and it was just as the article stated "packaged in Jacksonville, FL but processed in China. After reading it, I threw it in the garbage. But, at my sister-in-law's suggestion, I took it out of the garbage and took it back to WalMart. Sure enough, on the top of the bags, it read "farm raised", and on the bottom in small print it said, "China". It had started to thaw and inside the sealed (unopened) wrapper, there were little black particles that appeared to be feces. The customer service lady told me that she was familiar with it and as much as her kids liked Tilapia, they don't eat it anymore.
I don't understand the lack of mandatory labeling, especially the produce. The country of origin should be clearly shown on the item in the store. I go to the local farmers' markets in season and keep a wary eye open the rest of the year.
Recently I saw a Food inspector on TV... He said he had lived overseas and he had seen the filthy conditions their foods are raised and processed in. It is enough to make you throw up. Some foreign workers have to wear masks as they work in these places, because the food is so rotten and filthy, it makes them want to throw Up.
The Montreal Gazette had an article by the Canadian Government on how Chinese Feed farm fish: They suspend chicken wire crates over the fish ponds, and the fish feed on chicken s--t. Many Fish on Chinese Fish Farms are fed Raw sewage daily. "One of the issues with tilapia farmed in China is that smaller, independent farmers face economic pressures to use animal manure rather than more expensive commercial feed for farmed fish, a practice which contaminates water and makes the fish more susceptible to spreading foodborne diseases." However, disposing of animal waste in food products is a growing problem even in North America where cattle are fed animal waste.
There is much filth throughout their food growing and processing. The Chinese raise this filth, put some food coloring and some flavorings on it, and then ship it to the USA. They have no Food & Safety Inspectors. "Numerous environmental warnings about Chinese-raised tilapia from such groups as the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch have put this fish on their “avoid’ list of seafoods, this despite the fact that the U.S. has increased it’s imports every year from 2005 on. Many of the farm raised tilapia are grown in the notoriously polluted areas of China’s Guangdong province." Never buy any type of fish or shellfish that comes from these countries: Vietnam, China, Philippines.
How is it possible to ship food from China cheaper than having it produced in the U.S. Or Canada?