Malachite green scare halted
As reported in FishfarmingXpert on January 10, 2008, shipments of both Atlantic and Pacific salmon from B.C. were detained by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December last year. Collected on December 06, 2007, the samples allegedly contained remnants of malachite green at a level that caused the FDA to sound the alarm, and it subsequently notified the companies, Marine Harvest and Creative Salmon of the detention of the shipments.
Both of the salmon farming companies at the time claimed to have tested the fish at various stages during the production cycle, without any sign of the chemical being found in neither the fish nor in the feed given to the fish. According to statements made last week by both companies, they were contacted on Thursday and Friday by FDA officials that said that a review of the testing results had been made, and both shipments had been released for sale in the U.S. through the removal of the original detention order.
Following the notification by the FDA in December, Marine Harvest took samples from the same farm and processing plant that the FDSA samples came from, and an independent laboratory could still find no trace of malachite green. Likewise, Creative Salmon took additional samples in the presence of a B.C. Fisheries officer, and again the samples failed to detect the chemical.
