Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Senate has approved an amendment introduced by Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) in the fiscal year 2002 Agriculture Appropriations bill that would protect the U.S. catfish industry from the deceptive labeling of Vietnamese fish products.

Vietnamese fish farmers are infiltrating the domestic catfish market by labeling Basa fish as "catfish."

Senator Cochran's amendment requires the Food and Drug Administration to implement procedures to ensure that only North American Catfish be allowed to use the word "catfish" in product labeling.

Cochran said, "U.S. catfish farmers have invested millions of dollars to develop a market for the North American Catfish. This amendment will help ensure that fish products are properly identified, so that consumers are not deceived by improper labeling."