The New York Times reported this week that Hong Kong food inspectors found fish food imported from China was contaminated with melamine. Yep, melamine—that’s the toxic chemical responsible for the Chinese milk debacle and the tainted pet food that led to the largest pet food recall in this country’s history.
According to The New York Times, “Inspectors said fish feed imported from Fujian Province in southern China was found to have 6.6 parts per million, more than twice the level of melamine deemed safe for food.”
The acceptable level of melamine in the United States is 2.5 parts per million.
Does this mean that your marine aquarium fish food might poison your fishes? Probably not. Most of the contaminated fish food is used to feed fish on an industrial level at fish farms. Hong Kong officials have announced that “melamine-tainted fish feed would probably not pose serious health problems for people who consumed fish because consumers would not be directly eating the melamine.”
At least one manufacturer of aquarium fish food pulled their aquarium product off the shelves in 2007 when the Food and Drug Administration announced that melamine was identified in fish feed being used at the Marion Forks Hatchery in Oregon. In a press release, Sergeant's Pet Care Products, announced it voluntarily removed ornamental fish food products from retail store shelves.
A portion of the production lots of Atlantis® Goldfish Flake Food and Atlantis® Tropical Fish Flake Food have been found to contain the contaminant, melamine. Atlantis Goldfish Flake Food and Atlantis Tropical Fish Flake Food are products that are formulated specifically for the feeding of ornamental fish, such as a goldfish and Neon tetra. Atlantis fish food is not formulated for the feeding of fish intended for human consumption.
To be safe, it’s probably worth making sure that, at least in the short term, your marine aquarium fish food does not have the nearly ubiquitous “Made in China” label on it.
Comments