| June 23, 2005 - (Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senator David Vitter announced that $750,000 in federal funding for testing imported shrimp for antibiotics and for the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference (ISSC) was included in the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Bill, which passed out of the Appropriations Committee today. “I appreciate that my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee understand the importance of seafood to Louisiana and to the country,” said Vitter. “This funding will be used to work with states on inspecting shrimp that have already entered the United States and are held in cold storage to ensure that these shrimp are safe for consumption.” This bill includes $500,000 to help states test more shrimp imports, including shrimp already in cold storage. The Food and Drug Administration currently inspects only about 2 percent of all seafood imports. The United States imports 90 percent of the shrimp consumed from Asia and South America. The increase in foreign production of shrimp is made possible by the use of antibiotics used to prevent the spread of disease in shrimp farm ponds. In 2004, the FDA detected the antibiotic chloramphenicol in shrimp shipments from four of the five top importers of shrimp to the United States. Chloramphenicol can cause severe and fatal toxic effects in humans and is banned in U.S. food products. The ISSC will receive $250,000 in the FDA’s Office of Seafood Inspection budget, as ongoing federal funding for this program to help reduce the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria in gulf state oysters. “The federal funding for the ISSC is important to promote shellfish sanitation without destroying the viability of the oyster business in the gulf states,” Vitter added. “While this is only the first step in the legislative process, it is an important one for securing funding for these project,” Vitter said. “I will continue to work with my colleagues to see that this funding is included in the final bill.” The Senate Agriculture Appropriations Bill is expected to move to the Senate floor for a vote later this year. |
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