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THE CARROLL COX SHOW NEWS AND COMMENTARY |
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DOCUMENTATION - REJECTED SHIPMENTS OF IMPORTED FISH
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The attached information is the bill of lading, shipping, United States Food
and Drug Administration inspection reports, and information for refused or
rejected shipments of imported tuna and other fish products into the United
States from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. The information is from
the United States Food and Drug Administration’s, December 2007 to
November 2008 import refusal reports. Also, the names and contact
information for the “verified facilities” were obtained from the United States
Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Sea Food Inspection Program. Note that the rejected shipments are
originating from “Verified Facilities” certified by the USDC.
These shipments were rejected because they are, as described by the FDA,
“filthy”, and contain Salmonella and Histamines”. It is assumed that
“Verified Facilities” should be clean and in compliance with United States
health standards and processing regulations. Therefore, perhaps the
status of “Verified Facility” should be revoked. Having the USDC stamp
on the boxes during import is misleading and gives a false sense of security
that the shipments are good and these foreign processing plants can be
trusted.
This information was researched and compiled by Mr. Carroll Cox, and is from the Food And Drug Administration and the United States Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sea Food Inspection program. Background information Program Policy: Fishery Products Treated with Carbon
Monoxide and Filtered Smoke Gas In 1997,
the USDC Seafood Inspection Program became aware of a process that employs a
filtered wood smoke that at least one processing company, Hawaii International
Seafoods, Inc., termed "tasteless smoke" (TS). The purpose of its application
is to retard the development of the brown color that rapidly occurs in tuna flesh
after it has been cut. Although carbon monoxide (CO) is a component of the "tasteless
smoke", its concentration is similar to that found in normal wood smoke. Unlike
some other processes that result in the color of the product being enhanced or brightened
and fixed through the direct use of CO at significantly higher concentrations and/or
longer exposure times, this process, when used with appropriate controls, reportedly
does not enhance the natural flesh color of tuna, and the color of the flesh eventually
degrades over time. There is no evidence to suggest that “tasteless smoke” poses a
health risk to the consumer from the ingestion of treated product. On
September 3, 1998, Richard Cano signed a policy indicating that only seafood treated
with “tasteless smoke” gas from verified facilities named in the policy would
be permitted
to be lot inspected and bear our mark once it arrived in the United States. The list of
accepted facilities would be updated as necessary. In May 1999,
FDA issued Import Bulletin 16B-95 which included instructions that tuna treated
with "tasteless smoke" or CO should be: • labeled
as processed foods that have been treated with CO or TS, • not
misrepresented as fresh frozen seafood by their label, and • near normal in flesh color As a result of Import Bulletin 16B-95, the USDC Seafood Inspection Program policy was expanded to include facilities treating products with carbon monoxide mixtures.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration Definitions of
Reasons for Rejections:
Sources: http://www.fda.gov/ora/oasis/ora_ref_cntry.html http://www.fda.gov/ora/oasis/11/ora_oasis_cntry_lst.html http://www.seafood.nmfs.noaa.gov/Fees09.pdf http://www.seafood.nmfs.noaa.gov/FacilityUpdate102103.pdf
Click here for list of rejected shipments Click here for information regarding certified facilities
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